Super Intelligence (SI): what the federal rename of AI means

What the order does

Executive Order 14434, “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence”, sets the policy that the executive branch uses “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI”, and says it will no longer acknowledge the older terms in any applicable setting. Section 2 puts that into practice: to the maximum extent permitted by law, agencies use the new terms in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports and policy documents.

It also starts work on the law itself. Within 60 days the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology is to submit proposed legislative language for a federal definition of Super Intelligence, including whether it should change the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence. Congress would then have to adopt it.

What it does not change

For the purposes of the order, SI means the technologies and systems covered by the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3). The technology covered is the same; the label in executive-branch materials is what changes.

• Previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants and other historical documents do not have to be rewritten (section 2(b)), and statutes keep their wording unless Congress amends them.
• The order directs executive departments and agencies and creates no enforceable rights (section 4(c)). It does not tell companies or state and local governments what to call their products.
• It is separate from “superintelligence” in AI research, which describes hypothetical systems that would exceed human ability in almost every field.

What agencies and suppliers should expect

In the near term the change is mostly administrative. New solicitations, statements of work and agency guidance will ask about SI capabilities where they used to ask about AI, and references to a statutory definition may move if Congress adopts a new one.

• Read SI requirements as AI requirements unless the solicitation defines SI differently, and ask the contracting officer when it is unclear.
• Watch for a new statutory definition: programs tied to the current one, from research funding to standards work, could be affected.
• Keep governance the same: sources, human approval and audit trails matter for the capability, whatever it is called.

How Dark Pools is responding

Our product names stay the same, and outside US federal work we keep using the familiar term. When we respond to US federal requirements we use the government’s term, Super Intelligence (SI), and map it to the same capabilities in Gov AI and FinCrimes, so evaluators can compare like with like.

The controls do not change with the label. Assessments show the sources they draw on, consequential actions still need named human approval, and every query, assessment and export is written to a tamper-evident audit trail.