Trump Orders Federal Switch to 'Super Intelligence' Label

President Donald Trump has directed the federal government to replace the term "artificial intelligence" with "super intelligence" in all executive branch documents. The directive, issued via executive order on September 29, instructs agencies to use the acronym "SI" instead of "AI." The order cites the "rapidly advancing capabilities" of the technology as the reason for the terminology shift.

The move comes one week before the U.S. midterm elections. On Tuesday, the president posted on Truth Social to criticize the Wall Street Journal for continuing to use the term "AI." He called the current label "a very bad and inaccurate name" and stated that the administration would officially ban the term in relevant documents.

The terminology "artificial intelligence" has been used by computer scientists and the tech industry for more than 70 years. The executive order states that the executive branch will not acknowledge the usage of "AI" in any applicable setting, to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Reaction from the private sector has been mixed. Major firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI continue to use "artificial intelligence" to describe their work. However, Elon Musk, a Trump ally, has adopted the new branding. He announced that his company's division would be renamed "SpaceX Super Intelligence" or "SpaceXSI," though the website remains x.ai.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has also used the preferred "super intelligence" terminology in recent comments. The company has not announced any changes to its product names. This renaming effort follows previous administrative actions that included changing the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" and Lake Ontario to "Lake America."

The president has also sought to rename the Atlantic Ocean, a change he said was blocked by the CEO of Google. In a separate matter, allies renamed the Kennedy Center to the "Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." A federal court later ruled that specific name change illegal and reversed it.

The new terminology is now appearing in official government channels. The White House maintains a dedicated website for the technology sector that reflects the updated naming convention.