SI vs AI: What the Federal "Super Intelligence" Rename Means for Teams and Contractors

In U.S. federal usage, SI and AI refer to the same technologies. Executive Order 14434, signed September 29, 2026, directs executive branch agencies to say "Super Intelligence" and "SI" where they used to say "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI". It defines SI as the technologies and systems covered by "artificial intelligence" in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3), which defines artificial intelligence 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."

So a document classifier, a chat assistant or an AI agent that an agency described as AI is, in that agency's new wording, SI. The systems are the same. What the order changes is the label agencies use in their own documents.

Outside federal documents, "AI" remains the common term. And SI in this sense is not superintelligence, the hypothetical future system that some AI labs name as their goal. The comparison further down covers that difference.

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The order is short. Its operative parts, by section:

• Who it applies to. Executive departments and agencies (Section 2(a)).
• What changes. To the maximum extent permitted by law, agencies 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 within the executive branch (Section 2(a)).
• What SI means. For purposes of the order, and except where otherwise provided by law, SI means the technologies and systems encompassed by "artificial intelligence" as defined in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3). That definition governs the order's implementation unless and until it is superseded by later Presidential action or by an Act of Congress (Section 3(a)).
• What comes next. Within 60 days of the order, a deadline that falls on November 28, 2026, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology is to submit proposed legislative language to the President for a federal definition of SI. The proposal is to assess whether that definition should modify, expand upon or supersede the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence, propose any conforming amendments to statutes that refer to "artificial intelligence" and "AI", and recommend any further executive action needed to implement it (Section 3(b)).

Section 1 gives the order's stated reason: it describes the term "Super Intelligence" as one that "more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies."

The deadline in Section 3(b) is for a proposal to the President. It is not itself a new legal definition. Until a definition is changed by later Presidential action or by Congress, SI in the order means what the statutory definition of AI covers today.

Several things stay as they were, according to the order's own text:

• Existing documents. Section 2(b) states that nothing in that section requires the alteration of previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants or other historical documents. Existing contracts and grants keep their wording.
• Statutes. The terminology directive covers non-statutory documents. Statutes that use "artificial intelligence" are unchanged; the Section 3(b) proposal is the step that would address them, through proposed conforming amendments.
• Which technologies are covered, for now. Because SI is defined by the existing statutory definition of AI, the set of technologies covered is the same as before the order. Whether a future definition changes that is the question the Section 3(b) proposal is meant to answer.
• Private parties. The directives in Section 2(a) are addressed to executive departments and agencies. The order contains no directive to private companies about their own terminology. Section 4(c) states that the order does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its agencies, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

The overlap in wording is the main source of confusion. Federal SI and the superintelligence AI labs discuss are different ideas:

A federal document that mentions SI is talking about the AI in use today, such as chat assistants, document classifiers and AI agents. It is not describing the superintelligence that Meta Superintelligence Labs, Microsoft's MAI Superintelligence Team and Safe Superintelligence Inc. name as a goal. AI vs AGI vs ASI compares today's AI, AGI and ASI in more detail.

A client alert from the law firm Wiley, published October 2, 2026, says federal contractors, grant recipients and others that do business with federal agencies should expect "increasing use of the term SI in agency communications and procurement-related materials." It describes the near-term practical effects as "likely to be procedural and administrative rather than substantive," and suggests seeking clarification where needed to confirm that requirements remain the same.

Steps that follow from the order's text:

• Read SI as AI in new agency documents. Under Section 3(a), SI in an agency document means what the statutory definition of AI covers, unless the document says otherwise.
• Check the definitions clause. When a solicitation or guidance document uses SI, check whether it defines the term or refers to 15 U.S.C. 9401(3). If it is unclear, ask the contracting officer or program contact.
• Leave existing contracts and grants as they are. Section 2(b) does not require altering them.
• Watch for the proposed definition. The Section 3(b) proposal is due to the President within 60 days of the order. The Wiley alert notes that a new statutory definition could raise implementation questions for contract requirements, reporting obligations and grant programs that rely on the current definition of AI.

For most companies, the order changes the wording of documents they receive from executive branch agencies, not the tools they use. A team may see SI in agency websites, letters, reports and guidance, and in that context it refers to the same systems the team already calls AI.

Whichever word a document uses, the controls a team applies to its files stay the same: who can open which folder, what an agent can reach, and a record of what changed, which a Fastio workspace provides through per-member roles, agent access scoped to one workspace, and an activity log.