Trump’s shift from “AI” to “Superintelligence” gets mixed adoption in U.S. government
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An executive order signed by Trump in late September instructed U.S. government agencies to replace “Artificial Intelligence” with “Superintelligence,” or “SI.” A month later, the new term appears on government websites and in official requests, including a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for “SI-powered” surveillance systems. Some websites, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) site, warn that visitors may encounter both terms during the transition.
Adoption has been uneven. The Pentagon used “AI” when announcing Project Meridian, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wrote “superintelligence” as a single lowercase word, and recent Department of Health and Human Services releases did not use the new term. MIT Technology Review Brasil says the change could turn a linguistic choice into a test of political alignment, although “AI” will probably remain in existing programs and documents.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
The terminology change is already affecting websites, official requests and descriptions of surveillance systems, while uneven adoption may create inconsistencies in communication across agencies. MIT Technology Review Brasil also says the vocabulary could become a signal of political alignment, even though it is unlikely to immediately replace “AI” in existing programs.
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