Super Intelligence enters federal usage tied to the old AI definition

What the order touches

The rename covers the executive branch's official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory documents ^[2]. It does not cover the documents that move money. Nothing in the order requires changes to previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants or other historical documents ^[3]. Agencies are to carry it out consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations ^[6]. It creates no right or benefit that any party can enforce against the United States ^[19].

Section 3(a) sets the scope. "Super Intelligence" and "SI" mean the technologies and systems already covered by "artificial intelligence" as defined in section 9401(3) of title 15 of the United States Code ^[4]. That definition governs until a later Presidential action or an Act of Congress supersedes it ^[5]. A company with a federal contract that says "AI" has signed nothing the order rewrites. The systems it sells sit in the same statutory category under either name ^[3][4].

The broadest line in the order is in Section 1. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the executive branch will use the new terms and "will not acknowledge the usage of" the old ones "in any applicable setting" ^[1]. A vendor would want "applicable setting" parsed. A letter from an agency to a contractor is official correspondence, which Section 2(a) covers ^[2]. The contract that letter refers to is protected by Section 2(b) ^[3].

The 60-day clause

The scope can change under Section 3(b). Within 60 days of the order, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST) must send the President proposed legislative language for a federal definition of Super Intelligence that reflects the capabilities described in Section 1 ^[7]. The proposal has to assess whether that definition should "modify, expand upon, or otherwise supersede" the statutory definition of artificial intelligence ^[8]. It must also offer conforming amendments to existing statutory references to "artificial intelligence" and "AI", and recommend any further executive action ^[8].

The new definition is to be written against Section 1. That section describes frontier systems that "do much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence" and says they "increasingly represent not merely artificial intelligence, but a new era of Super Intelligence" ^[9]. That describes the frontier. Section 3(a), for now, ties the term to the whole existing statutory category ^[4]. A definition drafted to match Section 1 could cover more systems than 9401(3) or fewer. The order lists modifying, expanding and superseding as options and leaves the choice to the proposal ^[8].

The proposal can land in a few places. If it recommends keeping 9401(3), Section 3(a) stays in force and the rename remains a change of vocabulary ^[5]. If it recommends a new definition with conforming amendments, every statute that now says "artificial intelligence" could be edited, and so could the set of systems those statutes reach ^[8]. If the language goes forward and Congress does not act on it, the order's own definition holds until an Act of Congress or a later Presidential action replaces it ^[5].

I think the order's financial weight sits in that 60-day document and almost nowhere else. Today it edits non-statutory documents, leaves contracts, grants and regulations alone, and depends on appropriations ^[2][3][6]. The counter-case rests on the non-acknowledgement line. If agencies read "in any applicable setting" to cover bids and vendor correspondence, contractors pay to relabel before any statute changes ^[1]. An agency sending back a submission because it says "AI" would show the view is wrong.

Meta prices the word at zero

Meta uses the same word when it explains its pricing. Earlier this month the company introduced Muse, which it describes as "a personal AI agent" available in the US and Canada that completes tasks on a user's behalf ^[10]. Now it is adding skills and connectors for people who run businesses, under the name Muse for Small Business ^[11]. "Muse is free for most of what people need, in line with our vision to put superintelligence in the hands of as many people as possible," Meta wrote, adding that subscription plans are available "for those who want more" ^[15]. Meta did not disclose subscription prices or how many businesses use Muse ^[15].

For a small business, the base agent costs zero, or rather, zero for "most of what people need" ^[15]. The first connectors Meta lists are its own: Instagram professional account analytics, Facebook Pages and Meta ad accounts, linked "in a few clicks" ^[12]. After those come dozens of outside tools covering a business's brand, storefront, books and customer records ^[13]. Users can also build custom connectors for services Meta does not yet support, and partners can apply to build their own ^[14]. Meta has chosen not to charge for the core agent, and it lists its own ad accounts first among the connectors ^[12][15].

The customer evidence in the release is measured in hours. "I work about 65 hours a week, and there are so many things where I'm the only one who can do them," said Tom Mulholland, owner of Mulholland Grocery in Malvern, Iowa ^[16]. Over seven days, 65 hours is about 9.3 hours a day ^[20]. He wants time back for "cutting the steaks, making the sausages," and said "Muse is taking over a few of them" ^[16]. Meta's summary of what small businesses told it is that they are "short on hours, not ideas," and the company says small businesses have been growing on its apps for nearly two decades ^[17].

Meta's partners make the same case as its connector list. "It can help you start to organise your ideas and help them take shape, but the real magic happens when it's fully connected to your existing work, your context and your brand," said Cameron Adams, Canva's co-founder and chief product officer ^[18]. By that measure, Muse is worth more to a business the more of its tools it can reach, and Meta says more connectors are coming ^[14][18].

Same product, two names

The first sentence of Meta's release calls Muse "a personal AI agent", and the release reaches for "superintelligence" when it explains the price ^[10][15]. A federal agency writing about the same product would have to call it Super Intelligence ^[1]. Under Section 3(a) the two names cover the same thing, because the definition refers back to 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) ^[4]. So far neither use of the word costs anyone money: Meta charges nothing for most of Muse, and the order changes no contract, grant or regulation ^[3][15]. The first document in which the word could carry a cost is the APST's set of proposed conforming amendments to statutory references to "artificial intelligence", due within 60 days of the order ^[7][8].