The White House Renamed AI 'Super Intelligence.' Here Is Who Has Adopted the Term and Who Has Not.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Five weeks after President Donald Trump (R) signed Executive Order 14434, “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,” MIT Technology Review has counted who is using the new term. The order directs federal agencies to replace “artificial intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in their communications. The magazine's answer is mixed: some agencies and executives have switched, and several large ones have not.
This page sets out what the order actually requires, what a separate industry accord does, and what the record shows about adoption. It does not take a view on whether the rename is wise.
- 60 daysto propose a statutory definitionSec. 3(b) of EO 14434, signed Sept. 29, 2026; by our count the deadline is Nov. 28.
- 7signers of the industry accordPer CNBC and Nextgov: Trump plus leaders of Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI and Nvidia.
- 0private-sector requirements in the orderIt binds executive agencies, 'to the maximum extent permitted by law'; the accord does not require the new term either, per CNBC.
EO 14434, posted on whitehouse.gov, sets a policy of using “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in executive-branch work. Section 2(a) tells agencies to use the new terms, to the maximum extent permitted by law, in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports and other non-statutory documents, and says the executive branch “will not acknowledge the usage of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in any applicable setting.” Section 2(b) says no change is required to existing regulations, contracts, grants or historical documents.
Section 3 keeps the legal definition where it is: “SI” means the technologies covered by the statutory definition of AI in 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3), unless Congress changes it. Within 60 days the President's science adviser must send proposed legislative language on whether the new definition should replace the old one. The order creates no enforceable rights, and OSTP pays any publication cost. The President's stated reason, per Fox Business, is that the term “more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities.”
The same day, the White House announced a separate two-page voluntary document, the “White House Accord on Super Intelligence.” Per CNBC and Nextgov the signers were Trump, Sundar Pichai of Google, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Elon Musk of xAI and Jensen Huang of Nvidia. The commitments are internal controls on capability and alignment including cybersecurity, an internal oversight team, independent outside auditors and an independent committee reviewing their reports. Signers agree to meet regularly. The accord has no enforcement mechanism, per Nextgov and CNBC, and does not require companies to use the new term.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called it “a statement of principles” and its commitments “voluntary on behalf of the industry.” Musk described it, per Nextgov, as “joint monitoring, board special committees, just generally grading each other's homework.” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said changing what the technology is called “does nothing to address the very real risks.”
Per MIT Technology Review, adoption is uneven. The Navy and Marine Corps have issued transition guidance and the NIH website tells visitors they may see both terms. An ICE solicitation seeks “SI-powered” surveillance. Musk is the most consistent among executives, pledging to rename SpaceXAI, though he still mixes both terms on X. Zuckerberg has said “superintelligence” since last year, per CNBC, and, per MIT Technology Review, Microsoft's shareholder letter referred to the “Super Intelligence era.” Marc Benioff plans “SIForce.”
Others have not changed. The Pentagon's Project Meridian used the old terminology and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “AI” on October 3, per MIT Technology Review. Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet executives said “AI” on earnings calls. Google, Anthropic and OpenAI have taken no public stance beyond signing the accord. MIT Technology Review expects “AI” to persist in existing office names.
In research, superintelligence usually names a hypothetical system, in Nick Bostrom's phrase “an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field,” per Poynter. No existing product meets it. Baobao Zhang of Syracuse University told Poynter that getting the definition right matters for regulation, and historian Thomas Haigh warned the rename is unlikely to reassure people worried about the technology. Procurement lawyers at Wiley Rein, per ClearanceJobs, warn that a new statutory definition could complicate contracts, and ClearanceJobs reports that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has ordered state agencies to keep saying “artificial intelligence.”
Documented: EO 14434's text; the signed accord and its signers; agencies and executives that have changed language, per MIT Technology Review.
Not required: any change by private companies, or any change to existing law.
Unknown: what legislative language the science adviser sends by late November, and whether Congress acts.
The order changes vocabulary inside the federal government and leaves the legal definition, and every private company's choice of words, where they were. The next concrete step is the legislative proposal due this month.
