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SI vs AI: what the rename means at work

SI, short for super intelligence, is the term US federal agencies have used for AI since Executive Order 14434, signed on September 29, 2026. It changes the words in government documents, not the technology, and nothing requires companies or the public to switch.

BasicsPublished October 24, 2026, a 4-minute readAll guides

What the order says

The order, titled “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence”, directs federal executive departments and agencies to replace “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in their official communications and other non-statutory materials, as far as the law allows. In practice that means agency websites, reports, guidance and correspondence.

It also asks the President’s science adviser to propose a federal definition of SI, with legislative language, within 60 days, which puts the deadline at the end of November 2026. Until then, SI means the same technologies the existing law already calls artificial intelligence. On the same day, the White House announced a voluntary industry pledge, the White House Accord on Super Intelligence; legal commentary notes that it does not require the companies that sign it to adopt the new name.

What it does not change

  • Laws that say “artificial intelligence” still say it. Changing a statute takes Congress, which is why the order asks for proposed legislative language.
  • Existing regulations, contracts and grants keep their wording.
  • Companies, schools and the public are not required to use SI, and the order sets no penalty for saying AI.
  • The technology is the same. In research, “superintelligence” usually means a hypothetical system that outperforms people at almost everything; the order uses SI as a new name for today’s systems, not as a claim that they have reached that point.

What it means at work

For most workplaces, nothing has to change. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and your own policies still say AI, and so does nearly everyone else outside the federal government.

Three situations are worth a moment’s thought:

  • If you sell to or work with federal agencies, expect SI in solicitations, guidance and letters. Mirror the agency’s own wording in proposals, but keep the defined terms in signed contracts exactly as they are written.
  • If you research government guidance, search for both terms. New documents may say SI, while older ones and the laws they cite say AI.
  • In your own policies and documents, pick one term and define it once, for example “AI (called SI in US federal documents)”, so readers do not wonder whether the two mean different things.
Writing an AI policy for staff? The AI acceptable-use policy prompt drafts one from your own decisions, and the risk checklist for AI at work covers what it should say.

Why this site ends in .si

Read the address aloud: think hard, SI. It is the instruction a good prompt gives the model, addressed by the name the US government now uses for it. The tools here are for people who use AI at work, whatever they call it.

Key takeaways

  • SI, super intelligence, is the US federal government’s term for AI since Executive Order 14434 of September 29, 2026.
  • It covers agencies’ own communications and documents. Laws, regulations, contracts and grants keep their wording.
  • Nobody outside the federal government has to switch, and the technology has not changed.
  • If you work with federal agencies, use their wording in proposals and search for both terms.

Sources

This page explains the order’s scope as published. It is not legal advice.