Trump's rebrand: from "artificial intelligence" to "Super Intelligence"

By The Algorithm (MIT Technology Review), James O'Donnell · November 2, 2026.

In late September, President Trump signed an executive order with a single directive: government agencies must now call what they have so far referred to as artificial intelligence "Super Intelligence" (or simply "SI"). The term beat out other options, such as "Extreme Intelligence" and "Supreme Intelligence," which the president had floated in a poll on X a couple of weeks earlier.

The article places the move within this White House's string of renamings: the Gulf of America, Lake America, the Department of War and the ongoing fight to rename the Kennedy Center. The official rationale is that today's AI systems "amplify human ingenuity" rather than merely "imitating" intelligence. O'Donnell argues that if it follows the pattern of the previous ones, its effects will extend beyond government: it turns a choice of words into a test of political loyalty. Those who use the term signal allegiance to the administration, and those who don't open themselves up to attack. As a precedent, he recalls that the administration barred the Associated Press from some White House press events for not adopting "Gulf of America." According to the author, it may be the most ambitious rebranding yet, because AI is at the center of the national debate and, according to a poll he cites, two-thirds of Americans interact with it several times a week.

A month on, the author reviews who has adopted the term. Within government, "Super Intelligence" or "SI" increasingly appears in procurement solicitations. One example is ICE's request for companies to build "SI-powered" surveillance in detention centers. The term has been swapped in without notice on most government websites. Some, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) site, display a notice that both terms may appear during the transition.

There have been stumbles. A day after the order, the Pentagon announced Project Meridian, an initiative to study the future of warfare, using the old terminology. A recent FTC press release used "superintelligence" instead of the capitalized, two-word version the president ordered. Recent releases from Health and Human Services (HHS) show no trace of the new language. The piece notes that "AI" will likely remain in use because of the many offices, initiatives and programs bearing that name, such as the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. The order also does not apply to regulations or documents already issued.

Among public employees, "SI" seems slow to come naturally. A national laboratory researcher interviewed by the author said "AI" repeatedly and sheepishly acknowledged the slip. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also used "AI" in an interview on October 3.

The author stresses that the goal appears to be changing how the rest of us talk, too. On October 27, Trump criticized the Wall Street Journal on Truth Social for not using "Super Intelligence," "the name virtually everyone else uses, or soon will." He suggested that a new rule will go beyond the executive order and ban "artificial intelligence" from government documents altogether. The article notes that the WSJ is not alone: not even Newsmax, an outlet whose founder has described it as "favorable to the president and his policies," uses Trump's preferred term.

As for Big Tech executives, the author says the situation is "complicated." On the same day as the order, Trump released a nonbinding statement on AI safety, the "White House Accord on Super Intelligence." It was signed by six industry figures: Sundar Pichai (Google), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Greg Brockman (OpenAI), Elon Musk (xAI) and Jensen Huang (Nvidia). But the term hasn't caught on even within this group.

According to a CNBC analysis of third-quarter earnings calls, only Zuckerberg and Musk used it consistently. Zuckerberg's case doesn't fully count, since Meta was already saying "superintelligence" last year. Musk's companies use it the most, and he pledged to rename SpaceXAI as SpaceXSI, though his posts on X still mix SI and AI. Executives at Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet used "AI" on their calls, although Microsoft's recent letter to shareholders speaks of the "era of Super Intelligence." Huang has mentioned the term but also keeps using AI.

The piece notes one objection to the project: it will cost time and taxpayer money. It is Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's prerogative to decide that SIForce is a better name than AIForce, but public employees are already spending time drafting guidance on how departments should handle the change. In addition, under the order, federal agency heads must draw up a new legislative definition of "Super Intelligence" to submit to the president by the end of this month.

Even so, O'Donnell's main concern is the effect on the national conversation about AI. He says he often overhears strangers talking about AI in supermarkets or coffee shops. They tend to discuss bleak topics, such as a jobs apocalypse or AI-driven warfare, but he sees a widespread desire to weigh in on how the technology will transform their lives. He adds that opinions on AI, including outright hostility, still don't break along the partisan lines that make it awkward for strangers to talk about immigration or climate change.