Trump's super intelligence rename: what it means for federal contracts

Program offices are already asking contracting officers whether their documents have to change. Mostly they do not. The one place to act is a new solicitation that uses the new term. Here is what happened, what the published text actually says, and what to do about it this week.

What happened, in order

• September 22. At the UN General Assembly, the President said U.S. government documents would use "super" in place of "artificial."
• The same week. A deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's international organizations bureau emailed staff under the subject line "Change in Nomenclature AI to SI." Euronews reported that the email told staff to use SI in remarks, positions and press materials.
• September 23. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act of 2026. It uses the other meaning of the word, which we cover below.
• September 29. At the launch of America.gov, the President said super intelligence, or SI, is now the official name. The White House published an executive order the same day, Streamlining Access to Government Services Through America.gov. Its fact sheet uses "Super Intelligence (SI)."

What the published order says

Several news outlets report that the President signed an order that directs agencies to use SI in place of AI. As of this writing, the only order text on whitehouse.gov that uses the term is the America.gov order. Our America.gov guide covers what that order requires agencies to do. It uses "super intelligence" once, in Section 2(e), which requires that super intelligence used with America.gov be accurate, reliable and transparent. The order does not define the term. It does not use the words "artificial intelligence" at all, and it has no government-wide instruction to rename anything.

That gap matters. A speech and an internal email change how officials talk. They do not change a regulation, a statute or a contract. We will update this post when the text of a separate terminology order is published.

Two terms that look almost the same

Super intelligence, two words, is the administration's new name for the AI the government already buys. That means chat assistants, document search, drafting tools and the service behind America.gov.

Superintelligence, one word, is an older research term. It means AI that is better than people at most thinking tasks. It is a concept, not a product on any contract vehicle.

The Sanders and Casar bill uses the second meaning. Its section-by-section summary defines artificial superintelligence as an AI system that exceeds human cognitive performance across most domains or tasks, or that could plan and carry out the destruction or disempowerment of humanity. Section 9 would bar any person from developing, deploying, acquiring, possessing or funding it. The bill has been introduced. It has not passed.

So the two meanings now sit one space bar apart. On September 29 the President also used the phrase "artificial super intelligence." In a speech, nobody minds. In a contract requirement, it is a real problem.

What does not change

The legal definition of AI

Federal law defines artificial intelligence at 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) as "a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments." OMB Memorandum M-25-21 uses the definition in Section 238(g) of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act. An executive order cannot amend either one. Until Congress acts, the law still says artificial intelligence.

Your existing contracts

A signed contract means what its words meant when the parties signed it. You do not need a modification to swap AI for SI. A modification that only changes a label costs time and adds nothing.

Governance and reporting

AI use case inventories, Chief AI Officer duties and compliance plans under M-25-21 and M-25-22 are all written around the term AI. Keep reporting the way you do now until OMB says otherwise. The America.gov order gives OMB 90 days to issue an implementation memo. That memo is the first place to look for how OMB will use the new term. Our OMB AI governance guide covers what those two memos require.

What to do in a new solicitation

If your agency tells you to use SI, define it. One sentence in the definitions section of the PWS or SOW does the job:

Without that sentence, an offeror can read "super intelligence" in a requirement or an evaluation factor as the research meaning. Then the requirement is ambiguous. Ambiguity draws questions before award, protests after award and scope disputes during performance. When contract language is unclear, courts often read it against the party that wrote it. In a federal contract, that party is the government.

• Use one term per document. A PWS that says AI in one section and SI in another invites the question of whether they are two different things.
• Answer offeror questions about the term by amendment, so the answer binds every offeror.
• Do not rewrite FAR or agency clause text to say SI. Clauses are incorporated as written. Your definition covers the words you write around them.

Search for both terms

Market research and bid searches now need both terms. On SAM.gov, search "artificial intelligence" and "super intelligence" as separate phrases. Do not search "SI" on its own. In federal contracting SI already means systems integration or systems integrator, and the bare acronym returns pages of it.

Vendors should add super intelligence to their saved opportunity searches. Keep artificial intelligence in capability statements and proposals too, because statutes and most evaluators still use it.

Bottom line

• SI is a new name for the AI your agency already buys. It is not superintelligence.
• Statute, the OMB memos and your signed contracts still say artificial intelligence.
• If a new solicitation uses SI, define it by reference to 15 U.S.C. 9401(3).
• Search both terms, and skip the bare acronym.
• Watch for the text of a terminology order and for OMB's America.gov memo. We will update this post when either one appears.