Executive Order 14434
In plain wordsA September 2026 order by US President Donald Trump telling federal agencies to say 'super intelligence' (SI) instead of 'artificial intelligence' (AI) in official documents and communications.
A US presidential order, 'Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence', signed on September 29, 2026, that changes the executive branch's vocabulary rather than its substantive rules. To the maximum extent permitted by law, agencies are to write 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' where they would have written 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in their own non-statutory material, from letters and press releases to websites, reports and policy documents; earlier regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants and other historical records need not be revised. The new terms are defined by reference to the statutory definition of artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence, n.: Computer systems that do things we would normally credit to a thinking mind, such as holding a conversation, reading an X-ray or planning a route, and the field of research that builds them. in the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act (15 U.S.C. § 9401(3)), so the legal scope of federal AI policy is unchanged for now. The President's science adviser has 60 days to propose legislative language for a federal definition of the new terms, with any conforming amendments to statutes that say 'artificial intelligence'. The order's stated rationale is that frontier systems now amplify, rather than merely imitate or automate, human intelligence. It renames no office, though by October 2026 the heading of NIST's web page for its AI evaluation center had been restyled 'Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence'.
Since Executive Order 14434, the agency's press releases say SI where they used to say AI.
Origin
Signed by President Donald Trump on September 29, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on October 2, 2026 (91 FR 63129). Its purpose section, which credits American innovation with pushing the technological frontier, carries the race-for-leadership framing of America's AI Action PlanAmerica's AI Action Plan, prop. n.: The Trump administration's 2025 strategy for winning a global AI race: cutting regulation, building data centers and power plants quickly, and exporting American AI technology to allies. (2025) into official terminology.
Usage note
The federal usage departs from the established technical meaning of superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist. — an intellect far exceeding the best human minds across virtually all domains — a bar that researchers do not generally regard any 2026 system as meeting. Statutes, courts, other governments and most researchers continue to say 'artificial intelligence'.
Related
- superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist.
- artificial superintelligenceartificial superintelligence, n.: Superintelligence in machine form: AI that would outthink the best humans at nearly every intellectual task. Often shortened to ASI and pictured as the stage after human-level AI.
- artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence, n.: Computer systems that do things we would normally credit to a thinking mind, such as holding a conversation, reading an X-ray or planning a route, and the field of research that builds them.
- America's AI Action PlanAmerica's AI Action Plan, prop. n.: The Trump administration's 2025 strategy for winning a global AI race: cutting regulation, building data centers and power plants quickly, and exporting American AI technology to allies.
- Center for AI Standards and InnovationCenter for AI Standards and Innovation, prop. n.: The US government's AI testing and standards center, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It evaluates advanced AI models, American and foreign, for national-security risks and works with companies on voluntary testing.
- AI hypeAI hype, n.: Exaggerated claims about what AI can do or will soon do, made to attract money, attention or customers, which can mislead the public and policymakers.
Sources
- Executive Order 14434 of September 29, 2026: Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence. Federal Register 91: 63129–63130 (October 2, 2026). federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/02/2026-20321/inaugurating-the-era-of-super-intelligence
Defined in law or standards
Executive Order 14434, 91 Fed. Reg. 63129 (October 2, 2026), Sec. 3(a), defining 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' by reference to 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3)
Mentioned in
America's AI Action PlanAmerica's AI Action Plan, prop. n.: The Trump administration's 2025 strategy for winning a global AI race: cutting regulation, building data centers and power plants quickly, and exporting American AI technology to allies., artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence, n.: Computer systems that do things we would normally credit to a thinking mind, such as holding a conversation, reading an X-ray or planning a route, and the field of research that builds them., superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist., Center for AI Standards and InnovationCenter for AI Standards and Innovation, prop. n.: The US government's AI testing and standards center, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It evaluates advanced AI models, American and foreign, for national-security risks and works with companies on voluntary testing., woke AIwoke AI, n.: A politically charged label, used mainly by US conservatives, for AI systems seen as building progressive views into their answers. Since 2025 it also names a US rule on which AI the government may buy.