U.S. Executive Order Renames Federal AI References as Super Intelligence
Executive agencies must use new terminology in non-statutory communications, while the underlying legal definition and historical records remain unchanged for now.
Edited by Tyronne Panaino
A U.S. executive order published in the Federal Register on October 2 directs executive departments and agencies to use `Super Intelligence` and `SI` instead of `Artificial Intelligence` and `AI` in official non-statutory materials. The order is primarily a federal terminology change: it currently maps the new words to the existing statutory definition and does not require historical records to be rewritten.
The Federal Register record for Executive Order 14434 dates the order to September 29. It applies to official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory documents within the executive branch, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
What federal agencies must change
The operative instruction covers the language used by executive departments and agencies. New public-facing and internal non-statutory material should use `Super Intelligence` or `SI` where the government previously would have used the established AI terms. That could make federal pages and policy records look different even when they address the same class of systems.
The scope is not unlimited. The order says previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants and other historical documents do not have to be altered. Readers should therefore expect both sets of terms to coexist across federal records, with older or legally fixed material retaining the earlier wording.
The legal definition has not yet split
For now, the order defines `Super Intelligence` and `SI` by reference to the technologies and systems already covered by the statutory definition of artificial intelligence in title 15 of the U.S. Code. The new terminology therefore does not, by itself, establish a separate capability threshold or prove that a covered system is technically superintelligent.
That distinction matters for agencies, contractors, researchers and members of the public trying to interpret government material. A document using `SI` may be referring to the same legal category previously called AI, rather than making an evidence-based claim about a system's performance. The order's language is an administrative naming rule before it is a new statutory classification.
A 60-day legislative step comes next
The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology must submit proposed legislative language within 60 days of the order's date, after consultation with agency heads considered appropriate. The proposal must assess whether the existing statutory AI definition should be modified, expanded or superseded, identify possible conforming amendments and recommend any additional presidential or executive action.
That future proposal is the next verifiable checkpoint. It could recommend a broader legal change, but the current order does not itself amend statutes. Any description of a new federal definition beyond the order's temporary cross-reference would be premature until the proposed language is published and, where legislation is required, acted on through the relevant process.
Practical limits of the order
Implementation must remain consistent with applicable law and available appropriations. The order also says it does not create an enforceable substantive or procedural right or benefit. Those clauses limit what can be inferred from the terminology mandate and caution against treating the document as a private cause of action.
For search and records work, the immediate implication is simpler: current executive-branch material may move to the new terms while historical and statutory material still uses AI. People monitoring federal policy will need to search both vocabularies to follow the same subject during the transition.
Status
Confirmed. The official Federal Register text establishes the order, its scope, exclusions and 60-day follow-up. Internal confidence is high because the source is the authoritative published government record for the action.
Sources
Update note: Last reviewed 2026-10-07. We will revise this post when the proposed legislative language is published or if a later federal action changes the order's scope or terminology.
Sources
Drafted with AI assistance from source briefs; reviewed for citation completeness and label accuracy.