AI to SI: What "Super Intelligence" Means for Your Business
The federal government now calls AI "Super Intelligence" (SI). Here is what changed on September 29, 2026, what SI actually means, and what, if anything, your business should do.
If you have seen "SI" in the news and wondered whether it is something new, here is what changed, what it means, and what, if anything, your business should do.
What happened
On September 22, 2026, President Trump said at the United Nations General Assembly that the word "artificial" makes the technology sound fake [1]. On September 29, he signed Executive Order 14434, "Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence" [2][3]. It directs federal executive-branch departments and agencies to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI" in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports and policy documents [2]. The same day, technology leaders signed a separate, voluntary White House Accord on Super Intelligence [4].
Does this apply to businesses?
No. The order covers federal executive-branch agencies, and it places no requirement on private businesses [2][4]. A new federal definition is also still to come: the order gives the President's science and technology adviser 60 days to propose legislative language for one [2].
Is SI different from AI?
Today, no. The order defines "Super Intelligence" and "SI" as the technologies and systems already covered by the existing federal legal definition of artificial intelligence (15 U.S.C. 9401(3)) [2]. In other words, SI is a new name for what people call AI: assistants, chat, voice, automation and the models behind them.
There is an older, separate meaning worth knowing. In research, "superintelligence" describes a hypothetical intelligence far beyond the best human minds in nearly every field [5]. That is not what the order describes, and it is not what any business system on the market is today. When you read "SI" in a government document, read it as today's AI.
What it means for your business
- Nothing breaks. The tools you use do the same work under either name.
- Expect both words for a while. Federal documents, websites and contracting language will say SI. Most customers and most searches still say AI. If you sell to federal agencies, expect SI in their paperwork.
- Judge a system by what it does, not what it is called. The useful questions stay the same under any label: does it answer customers quickly and accurately, does it hand off to a person when it should, and can you see what it did? Our explainer on what an AI receptionist actually does walks through those questions.
How Sherwood handles it
We build the systems behind sales, customer contact and operations: assistants that answer by chat and phone, follow-up that runs on its own, and custom software. We will use both words while the public catches up. The systems are the same either way.
Quick answers
What does SI stand for? Super Intelligence, the term federal agencies now use for what most people call artificial intelligence (AI) [2].
When did the change happen? Executive Order 14434 was signed on September 29, 2026 [2][3].
Do businesses have to say SI? No. The order applies to federal executive-branch agencies [2][4].
Is SI smarter than AI? Not today. Under the order, SI covers the same technologies as the existing legal definition of AI [2]. The research term "superintelligence" means something far more advanced that does not exist today [5].