What happened
On 29 September 2026 President Trump signed an Executive Order directing all executive-branch departments and agencies to replace the terms 'Artificial Intelligence'/'AI' with 'Super Intelligence'/'SI' in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, and policy documents (defined by reference to 15 U.S.C. 9401(3)). The Order also directs the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to produce, within 60 days, proposed legislative language establishing a federal statutory definition of 'Super Intelligence'. The same day, ~20 tech CEOs (Amodei, Altman/Brockman, Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang, Pichai, Nadella, Bezos, Su, Karp) signed the 'White House Accord on Superintelligence' — voluntary commitments on internal controls, self-regulation and multi-layer auditing, framed by the President as 'morally binding' rather than legally binding.
Why it matters
The EO is binding on federal agencies that procure, deploy, or review AI systems; contractual/procurement language is expected to shift to 'SI' terminology. The Accord entrenches a self-regulatory posture that explicitly rejects the mandatory federal oversight AI labs themselves have been requesting (and that states like California/New York are enacting), signalling near-term US federal AI governance will remain voluntary.
Action needed
Federal contractors and AI vendors dealing with executive agencies should expect 'Super Intelligence'/'SI' terminology in solicitations and correspondence; monitor for the APST legislative-definition proposal (due ~28 November 2026) that could amend the statutory AI definition. Industry should track the Accord's audit/oversight commitments as a benchmark even though non-binding.