The document
Executive Order 14434 of September 29, 2026, “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence” — Federal Register Vol. 91, No. 190 (Friday, October 2, 2026), pp. 63129–63130, FR Doc. 2026-20321, filed October 1, 2026. Full text at federalregister.gov ↗
What it orders
The operative policy line, Section 1, verbatim:
“It is therefore the policy of my Administration that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the executive branch shall use the terms ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ in place of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘AI’ and will not acknowledge the usage of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘AI’ in any applicable setting.” — EO 14434, Sec. 1
Section 2 applies that to “official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory documents within the executive branch”, while noting (Sec. 2(b)) that previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants and other historical documents need not be altered.
What “Super Intelligence” is defined to mean
The order's own interim definition, Section 3(a), verbatim:
“the terms ‘Super Intelligence’ and ‘SI’ mean the technologies and systems encompassed by the term ‘artificial intelligence’ as defined in section 9401(3) of title 15, United States Code.” — EO 14434, Sec. 3(a)
In plain words: in U.S. policy usage, “Super Intelligence” currently means AI — today's systems, not a future beyond-human one. Section 3(b) gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days from signing — a calculated date of November 28, 2026 — to submit proposed legislative language for a Federal definition that “reflects the capabilities described in section 1”, including whether it should supersede the existing statutory definition of AI.
What it does not do
- It does not declare that superintelligence in the research sense has been achieved — the definition it uses is the existing statutory definition of AI.
- It does not require the alteration of previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants or historical documents (Sec. 2(b)); implementation remains subject to applicable law (Sec. 4(b)).
- It does not bind private companies, researchers or the public — it governs executive-branch language.
- It creates no enforceable rights (Sec. 4(c), as standard).
How it is being applied
The White House fact sheet of the same day describes the intent:
“Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to replace the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (‘AI’) with ‘Super Intelligence’ (‘SI’) in the executive branch…” — White House fact sheet, Sep 29, 2026
The evidence reviewed on October 8 records agency pages under this name; retrieval dates do not establish when those pages were first published:
“NIST's superintelligence efforts focus on driving research and development, testing and evaluation, development of guidelines and standards, and implementation and application of best practices.” — NIST, “Super intelligence” (retrieved Oct 8, 2026)
“The U.S. National Science Foundation has invested in superintelligence research since the early 1960s” — NSF, “Super Intelligence” focus area (retrieved Oct 8, 2026)
Note that both apply the new label retroactively — NSF's “since the early 1960s” line re-describes decades of AI funding in the new vocabulary. The fact sheet similarly describes the July 2025 America's AI Action Plan as “identifying more than 90 Federal actions to win the SI race”. The term evidence records that the earlier plan did not use “superintelligence”. This is a distinction between the later fact sheet's vocabulary and the original document, not evidence that earlier AI systems had acquired a new capability.
Keep the meanings separate
The order's administrative definition is distinct from the research meaning of superintelligence. The FAQ explains that distinction, and our tracker records dated documents without treating branding as proof of capability.