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Mikhail Polyakov

Trump orders AI to be called "super intelligence", and part of Silicon Valley goes along: what has actually changed and how to read news like this

Level: BeginnerReading time: 5 min

Topics: AI

A glowing translucent sphere patterned with connected nodes stands on a dark stone table and is reflected identically in two mirrors of different shapes, next to a vase with a branch

Short answer: according to The Verge, US President Donald Trump announced that artificial intelligence should now be called "super intelligence", and an executive order requires government agencies to use this word. Some big technology companies are adapting: according to the outlet, Elon Musk and Marc Benioff announced they would rename their products, Satya Nadella called AI super intelligence in his post, and Nvidia put the new word into an announcement about funding for science. The renaming by itself does not add capabilities to software: it changes the word, not what the program can do. Below is who did what, based on the outlet's report, and how to read news and sales offers where "super intelligence" now stands in place of AI.

What happened

All the facts below come from a piece in The Verge dated October 11, 2026, by Terrence O'Brien. I was not able to open any other primary sources, so this is a retelling of a single outlet.

  • The order. According to The Verge, the executive order requires US government agencies to use the term "super intelligence". It was announced at a summit devoted to AI.
  • Trump's statement. The outlet quotes him: "The White House considers anyone that uses the term, 'Artificial Intelligence,' as opposed to the highly accepted new and more accurate term, 'Super Intelligence,' THE ENEMY!"
  • The public. In The Verge's assessment, most people are still saying "AI". This is the outlet's assessment, not the result of a survey.

Who picked up the new word, and how

From the same piece:

  • Elon Musk promised to rename SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI. This is a promise; the piece does not say the renaming itself has happened.
  • Marc Benioff, head of Salesforce, announced within hours of Trump's statement that AIForce would become SIForce.
  • Nvidia. Its CEO Jensen Huang attended the summit where the order was announced. When the company itself announced it would commit $1 billion to scientific advancement, the areas included "super intelligence research". The piece does not say whether Huang himself has used the new word. The outlet notes that he has said he believes the danger posed by AI is overblown.
  • Satya Nadella, head of Microsoft, attended the same summit. In a post calling for an "emergency brake" for AI, he repeatedly referred to the technology as super intelligence. What he actually proposed I covered separately: Microsoft's CEO suggests treating a model as compromised.

The Verge calls all of this a concession and writes that during Trump's second term Silicon Valley has repeatedly tried to win favor with the administration, after a much more contentious relationship during his first term. This is the outlet's opinion.

What this changes for people who use AI

From here on this is my conclusion, not data from the piece.

Renaming changes the word, not the program. The piece contains no indication that chatbots, coding assistants or other services gained new capabilities because of the new name. That does not mean a particular product has not been updated: updates happen without any executive order, and they need to be checked separately. The word "super intelligence" sounds as if it refers to something far smarter, but in these news items, as The Verge describes them, it simply stands in place of the familiar "AI".

This creates a practical problem: "super intelligence" may appear in press releases, on vendors' websites and in sales offers where "AI" used to be. A reader who does not follow American politics may easily decide they are being offered something new and more powerful.

How to read news and offers with this word

These are my recommendations.

  1. Swap the word back. If you see "super intelligence" in news from the US or in the description of a non-Russian product, read the sentence with "AI" in its place. If nothing concrete is left after the swap, there is nothing new in that sentence.
    • Who does it: whoever is reading the news or the offer.
    • How to check: compare the product description with what it said before October 2026. If the description is the same and only the word has changed, ask the vendor what has changed in the version, the terms and the results. Matching descriptions are a reason to ask, not proof that the product has stood still.
  2. Ask the vendor about the task, not the name. "What exactly does the program do in my process, on what data, how many errors per hundred cases?" The answers to these questions do not depend on what the product is called.
    • Who does it: the manager choosing the service.
    • How to check: ask for trial access and run ten of your own real cases through it, and count how many the program got right. Ten cases only give a first impression; to estimate the error rate you need more cases. Separately, ask for the full price: implementation, subscription and support.
  3. Do not take the word as a description of capabilities. News that an agency or a company is "working on super intelligence" may, after the order, mean ordinary work with AI.
    • How to check: look in the text for what concretely has been done or promised. If there is nothing concrete, all you have is a word.

When this does not concern you

If you do not read American news and do not buy American AI services, this hardly affects your work: according to The Verge, the order applies to US government agencies.

Summary

According to The Verge, a Trump executive order requires US agencies to call AI "super intelligence"; Musk and Benioff announced they would rename products to match the new word, Nadella used it for AI in his post, and Nvidia put it into an announcement about funding for science. The renaming itself does not add capabilities to software. When you read news or an offer with this word, put "AI" back in its place and ask what exactly the program does in your task.

I work on AI agents and automation. If you would like to see my projects or discuss your own task, take a look at my portfolio.

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