Super intelligence (SI) became the federal government's word for the technology on September 29, 2026, and anyone who writes about it now has a choice to make on every page. This guide is the style SIBytes follows. It is written for reporters, marketers, technical writers and anyone else who wants to adopt SI wording consistently while keeping proper nouns, legal references and quotations accurate.

Who needs this

Federal agencies are covered by Executive Order 14434, which directs them to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in official communications. Everyone else is choosing voluntarily. Some organizations, including NIST, have switched; others, including California's state agencies under an order signed September 30, 2026, are keeping the old term. Whichever way your organization goes, the hard part is the same: knowing which words to change and which to leave alone. The background is in AI vs SI: what changed and what didn't.

The core rule

Use SI vocabulary for the technology itself, and keep original wording wherever the words are someone else's: a name, a law, a quote, a line of code. If a sentence reads worse with SI in it, rewrite the sentence rather than forcing the term in.

The vocabulary map

  • artificial intelligence, AI → super intelligence, SI
  • AI model, AI system, AI tool → SI model, SI system, SI tool
  • AI agent, agentic AI → SI agent, agentic SI
  • AI lab, AI company → SI lab, SI company
  • AI safety, AI alignment → SI safety, SI alignment
  • AI at work, AI policy → SI at work, SI policy
  • generative AI → generative SI
  • AGI (artificial general intelligence) → general SI; keep "AGI" in parentheses on first use, since readers still search for it
  • superintelligence (the hypothetical, beyond-human sense) → artificial superintelligence (ASI), spelled out
  • the AI era, AI boom, AI race → the SI era, SI boom, SI race

Capitalization and abbreviation

  • Write Super Intelligence in titles and on first use, with SI in parentheses: "Super Intelligence (SI)."
  • Use SI after first use. Lowercase "super intelligence" is fine in running prose.
  • Never "S.I." and never "Super-Intelligence" or "Superintelligence" for the everyday term. The single word belongs to the hypothetical concept, written as artificial superintelligence (ASI).
  • Use "an SI" before the abbreviation, because it is read aloud as "ess-eye": an SI model, an SI policy.

The exceptions: keep these verbatim

  • Proper nouns and product names. OpenAI, xAI, Meta AI, Google AI Studio, Stability AI, Scale AI, Apple Intelligence. Company and product names belong to their owners; never rename them.
  • Laws, standards, benchmarks and papers. The EU AI Act, the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, the NIST AI RMF, ARC-AGI. Quote titles exactly.
  • Direct quotations. Quote people and documents word for word. If a quote is confusing on its own, you may add "[SI]" in brackets, but never alter the words.
  • Code and identifiers. URLs, file names, API field names, model identifiers and code samples stay as they are.
  • Historical context. When the old name is the point, keep it: the field was named "artificial intelligence" in a 1955 proposal for the 1956 Dartmouth workshop.
  • Legal and contractual text. If a contract, policy or regulation defines the old term, use that defined term when you discuss its obligations. The executive order itself leaves previously issued regulations, contracts and grants unchanged.

Don't confuse SI with ASI

Everyday SI names the systems in use today. Artificial superintelligence (ASI) is a hypothetical system that would far exceed humans at nearly every intellectual task, and nobody has built one. When the distinction matters, say so in one plain sentence. Don't write "super intelligent" as an adjective for today's tools, because it reads as a capability claim. The longer explanation is in what super intelligence is.

Good and bad sentences

  • Avoid: "The company launched a new AI tool for accountants." Better: "The company launched a new SI tool for accountants."
  • Avoid: "Meta SI released an update." Better: "Meta AI released an update." Product names don't change.
  • Avoid: "The EU SI Act sets rules for high-risk systems." Better: "The EU AI Act sets rules for high-risk systems." Laws keep their names.
  • Avoid: "The CEO said SI 'will change every industry.'" when the CEO used the old term. Better: quote his words exactly, or paraphrase outside the quotation marks.
  • Avoid: "Super-intelligent chatbots are here." Better: "SI chatbots are here." The first reads as a claim about ASI.
  • Avoid: "S.I. adoption is growing." Better: "SI adoption is growing."
  • Avoid: "The SI-powered SI assistant uses SI to answer SI questions." Better: "The SI assistant answers questions about your account." One mention is enough.

Writing for a mixed audience

For the next several years many readers will know the technology only by its old name. Three habits help:

  • Bridge once. On a page's first mention, a short bridge such as "super intelligence (SI), the term the US government adopted in 2026" orients newcomers. Don't repeat it on the same page.
  • Match the audience's documents. Material for federal agencies should follow the order's vocabulary. Material for EU compliance teams should follow the EU AI Act's defined terms. A single company can do both.
  • Mind other meanings of SI. The abbreviation already means the International System of Units in science and systems integration in IT services. In technical or international documents, spell out "super intelligence" on first use.

For businesses

  • Contracts: don't edit signed agreements to change terminology. New templates can use SI in plain-language sections while keeping any legally defined term consistent throughout.
  • Product names: renaming a product is a branding decision, not a requirement. The executive order contains no directive to companies.
  • Search and metadata: write naturally. A page about SI tools can mention the old term once for readers searching for it; repeating both terms in every sentence is keyword stuffing.
  • Policies: if your internal SI use policy defines terms, update the definition section once and let the rest of the document follow it.

To see which agencies, companies and governments have adopted the term so far, check the SI adoption tracker. For the order's text and timeline, read the Super Intelligence executive order, explained. Every term above is defined in the SI glossary.