The executive order signed on September 29, 2026 is the reason the US federal government now calls the technology super intelligence (SI). It is short, about two pages in the Federal Register, and most of what has been said about it is easier to judge once you have read what it actually says. This guide walks through the text, then the timeline, then the responses we could verify.

At a glance

  • Name: Executive Order 14434, "Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence"
  • Signed: September 29, 2026
  • Published: Federal Register, October 2, 2026 (91 FR 63129, document 2026-20321)
  • Applies to: executive departments and agencies of the federal government
  • Main effect: agencies use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of the old term in official, non-statutory communications
  • Deadline: proposed legislative language for a federal SI definition is due to the President within 60 days, which falls on November 28, 2026

What the order says, section by section

Section 1: Purpose

The first section makes the case for the new name. It notes that the field's original name was coined in the United States and argues that today's frontier systems "do much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence." It concludes that "the term 'Super Intelligence' more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies." It then sets the policy: to the maximum extent permitted by law, the executive branch will use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of the old term and "will not acknowledge the usage of" the old term "in any applicable setting."

Section 2: Implementation

Agencies must use the new terms "in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other nonstatutory documents within the executive branch." The second paragraph sets the main limit: "Nothing in this section requires the alteration of previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants, or other historical documents."

Section 3: Definition

For the order's purposes, SI means the technologies already covered by the statutory definition in 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3), the definition written into the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020. That definition governs until a later presidential action or an Act of Congress replaces it.

The section also starts a 60-day clock. The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology must send the President proposed legislative language for a federal definition of SI that reflects the capabilities described in Section 1. The proposal must include an assessment of whether the new definition should modify, expand or supersede the existing statutory one; any proposed conforming amendments to existing statutory references; and recommendations for further executive action.

Section 4: General provisions

The standard closing language applies. The order does not impair the legal authority of any agency head or the budget functions of the Office of Management and Budget, it is to be implemented consistent with applicable law and available appropriations, and it "is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit" enforceable by anyone. The Office of Science and Technology Policy pays for its publication.

Who it applies to

The order is addressed to executive departments and agencies. Its text contains no directive to private companies, individuals, state or local governments, courts, or Congress. Federal contractors are not told to rename anything, and existing contracts are expressly exempt.

What it doesn't change

  • The technology. SI is defined as the same set of systems the statutory definition already covered.
  • Statutes. The order can propose legislative language; only Congress can amend a law.
  • Existing documents. Regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants and historical documents need not be altered.
  • State and foreign law. State statutes, the EU AI Act and other countries' laws are outside its reach.
  • Legal rights. It creates no enforceable rights for or against anyone.

AI vs SI: what changed and what didn't goes deeper on the law layer.

Timeline

  • September 22, 2026: In his UN General Assembly address, the President says the government will use "super intelligence," adding that "the use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake." The State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs tells staff the same day to change references in its documents and positions.
  • September 29, 2026: Executive Order 14434 is signed. The same day, the President and six technology executives sign a separate, voluntary White House Accord on Super Intelligence, and the White House launches America.gov, a federal services portal.
  • September 30, 2026: California Governor Gavin Newsom signs Executive Order N-10-26, directing state agencies to keep the old term. NIST updates its web pages to use super intelligence.
  • October 1, 2026: NIST's standards center appears under its new name, the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence (CAISSI).
  • October 2, 2026: The order is published in the Federal Register.
  • November 28, 2026: Deadline for the proposed statutory definition of SI.

How agencies responded

NIST has said so publicly. Its super intelligence page states: "Per the Sept. 29, 2026, Executive Order 14434: Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence, NIST is working to update its communications to incorporate the term 'super intelligence' as directed." The update shows how the order works in practice: page titles and running text now say SI, while named publications such as the NIST AI RMF keep their original titles, as Section 2 allows. The State Department's international organizations bureau had already switched its documents a week earlier.

Not every federal message switched at once. At the America.gov launch on September 29, 2026, US Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia described the portal as "an extraordinary use of AI designed to improve your life."

How companies responded

The order does not ask companies to do anything, so their choices are voluntary. The accord signed the same day carries the new term in its title, and its signatories were Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Elon Musk of xAI, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. At the press conference, Amodei and Brockman both used the old term. Musk corrected himself mid-sentence ("SI, pardon me"). On September 30, 2026, Huang wrote on X that "Super Intelligence offers an extraordinary opportunity to advance discovery, productivity, security, health, and prosperity."

The accord itself is a separate document. It asks companies training frontier models to keep four layers of controls: internal controls, an internal team that checks them, an independent external auditor, and an independent board committee. It creates no new regulatory requirements.

How states and other governments responded

California is the clearest case of a government declining the term. Executive Order N-10-26 says state agencies "shall refer to Artificial Intelligence and AI as 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI,' notwithstanding any rebranded or different terminology used by the federal government, unless inconsistent with the law." Outside the United States, Canada's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, asked about the proposed rename, said "Canadians are not enthusiastic, at all, about renaming things."

The SI adoption tracker keeps a running, sourced list as more organizations take a position. For what the term means in everyday use, start with what super intelligence is; for how to write with it, see the SI terminology guide; and for definitions, the SI glossary.