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Trump orders federal agencies to call AI 'Super Intelligence' in official documents
President Trump ordered federal agencies to write 'Super Intelligence' in place of 'AI' in correspondence, websites, reports and policy documents. The order sets no new duty for model builders; what could change their scope is a proposed statutory definition due to the President within 60 days.
The Watch · Security desk
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What happened
- The order defines Super Intelligence as the technologies already covered by the statutory definition of artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3).
- Regulations, presidential actions, contracts and grants issued before the order do not have to be rewritten under the new term.
- Agency authority granted by law and the budget office's budgetary, administrative and legislative functions are left untouched by the order.
- The order creates no right or benefit enforceable against the United States and is subject to applicable law and available appropriations.
- The White House fact sheet ties the order to more than $5 billion announced for the Genesis Mission, a federal effort to apply the technology to science, medicine, energy and manufacturing.
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Why it matters
- decision Compliance teams have no re-scoping decision to make now, since a system inside the statutory AI definition before the order sits inside the SI definition after it.
- exposure Regulatory watch lists and keyword alerts built on 'AI' will miss new agency guidance and web pages issued under the new term.
- contradiction The fact sheet sells the name as describing more capable technology, yet the order keeps the old legal meaning, so 'SI' in an agency document covers nothing 'AI' did not.
Section 1 states the policy more broadly than Section 2 carries it out. The policy sentence says the executive branch will not recognize use of the terms artificial intelligence and AI in any setting where the policy applies [2]. The implementing section limits the switch to non-statutory documents within the executive branch, and only "to the maximum extent permitted by law" [1]. Federal statutes will keep saying artificial intelligence while the agency documents written to apply them say SI [1].
The order has four sections, titled Purpose, Implementation, Definition and General Provisions [9]. Only one carries a deadline. Section 3(b) gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days to send the President proposed legislative language for a federal definition of SI, consulting other agencies as that office sees fit [5]. The draft must assess whether the new definition should "modify, expand upon, or otherwise supersede" the statutory definition of artificial intelligence [5]. It must also carry conforming amendments to existing statutory references and recommendations for further presidential or executive action [5]. The order directs the draft to the President and does not require it to be published [5]. Because it is legislative language, any change to which systems federal statutes cover would have to pass Congress [5].
The White House fact sheet also lists the July 2025 AI Action Plan, which identified more than 90 federal actions [12], and the March 2026 National Super Intelligence Policy Framework, which carried legislative recommendations [13]. The legislative recommendations sit in that framework. This order adds a naming rule and one drafting task [1][5].
The fact sheet says the President "eliminated the Biden Administration's overreaching and harmful SI policies" on returning to office [14]. It applies the new name to policies written before the name existed. The same fact sheet still calls the July 2025 document "America's AI Action Plan" [12]. That older title is consistent with the order's exemption for previously issued documents [6].
What to watch
- The science adviser's proposed legislative definition, due 60 days after the order, and whether it narrows or broadens the 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) definition.
- Whether Congress takes up that proposal or the March 2026 framework's legislative recommendations.
- Whether agencies carry the new term into new procurement solicitations and contract language.