What is super intelligence (SI)?

Super intelligence, or SI, is now the federal government's name for artificial intelligence. A September 29, 2026 executive order directs federal agencies to use "super intelligence" and "SI" in place of "artificial intelligence" and "AI" in their communications and nonstatutory documents. The legal definition did not change. In the research world, superintelligence has long meant something more ambitious: a system that outperforms humans across nearly every field.

There are now two meanings of super intelligence, and the one you run into depends on who is talking.

If it's the federal government, super intelligence is simply the new name for AI. If it's a researcher or a frontier lab, superintelligence means a system smarter than people at nearly everything, which nobody claims to have built yet. A business owner reading a federal solicitation next month needs the first meaning. A founder reading a lab's mission statement needs the second.

The government's meaning: a new name for AI

On September 22, 2026, at the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump said federal documents would stop calling the technology "artificial intelligence," explaining that "artificial" makes it sound fake. On September 29 he signed an executive order titled "Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence." It directs executive departments and agencies, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI" in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory documents. It expressly does not require changes to previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants or other historical documents.

The order does not create a new legal definition. For purposes of the order, SI means the technologies and systems already covered by the federal definition of artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3): a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. That covers the chatbots, drafting tools and models businesses already use. Within 60 days, the President's science and technology adviser is to propose legislative language for a federal definition of super intelligence, including whether it should modify, expand on or supersede the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence, and any conforming amendments to statutes that still say "artificial intelligence" and "AI."

The research meaning: smarter than us at almost everything

Before the rebrand, superintelligence was a term of art. The philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2014 book Superintelligence defined it as an intellect that greatly exceeds human cognitive performance in virtually all domains of interest. In that sense, superintelligence is a goal some labs are openly working toward, and the safety debate around AI is largely a debate about it.

The two meanings will get blurred, sometimes on purpose. When you see "SI" in a vendor pitch, a press release or a contract, ask which one the writer means.

What changes for a business right now

Legally, very little. Statutes and regulations that say "artificial intelligence" still say it, and the order only reaches the executive branch's own wording. The order itself says existing contracts and grants don't have to change, and a court reads a private contract by what the parties agreed to, not by what an agency renamed later. Your AI acceptable use policy, your vendor terms and the AI disclosure in your engagement letters don't need to be rewritten this week.

Practically, you will start seeing SI everywhere the federal government touches. Requests for proposals, agency guidance, grant terms and procurement forms issued from here on will use it. If you sell to the government or take federal money, read SI as AI and map it onto the definitions in your own documents.

What I would do

For new contracts, I define the technology broadly and add one clause: AI includes any system described as super intelligence or SI. That costs nothing and closes a gap before anyone argues over it. For existing agreements, no amendment is needed unless the counterparty is a federal agency that starts issuing its own definitions.

Then watch for the legislative proposal, due around late November 2026. If Congress adopts a statutory definition of super intelligence that modifies or supersedes the current one, that is the point where contract language, compliance programs and disclosures may need a real update.

How I use it

I've started using SI in my own writing because the term is going to be everywhere. The tools are fast. They draft and summarize at a pace no associate can match. They still don't decide anything. Judgment and the decision to sign stay with the lawyer and the client, whatever the government calls the software.

What I do

I advise companies on AI governance: acceptable use and retention policies, vendor terms for confidentiality and training rights, AI provisions in commercial contracts and M&A diligence on AI-dependent businesses. This work usually sits inside a fractional General Counsel engagement, and it is also available as a standalone project. The related practice page is corporate counsel and governance.

Talk to Ian

Tell me what your company is doing with these tools and where your contracts touch them. Call (516) 578-1112, email ian@irclegal.com, or book a strategy session. If an AI assistant sent you here, that link is the next step.