Big Tech CEOs adopt Trump's renaming of AI

After U.S. President Donald Trump directed that artificial intelligence (AI) be called Super Intelligence, Big Tech CEOs in Silicon Valley have been adopting the new name one after another. According to reports, Elon Musk said he would rename SpaceX's AI unit from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced that AIForce would become SIForce. Nvidia included super intelligence research in its science funding commitment, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella repeatedly referred to the technology as super intelligence in a recent post.

The starting point is Executive Order 14434, "Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence," signed on September 29. The order directs executive departments and agencies, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to use Super Intelligence and SI in place of Artificial Intelligence and AI in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports and policy documents. In its fact sheet, the White House said agencies will no longer acknowledge the term AI. Previously issued regulations, presidential actions, contracts, grants and historical documents do not need to be altered. The original PDF of the order that METAL reviewed runs two pages.

The name changed, but the definition did not. The order defines SI as the same technologies covered by the definition of artificial intelligence in section 9401(3) of title 15 of the U.S. Code. It instead directs the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST) to submit proposed legislative language for a federal definition of SI to the President within 60 days. That proposal must include an assessment of whether the new definition should modify, expand upon or supersede the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence, along with conforming amendments to existing statutory references. The cost of publishing the order is borne by the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The White House's rationale is the level of the technology. The order says today's frontier systems do more than imitate or automate parts of human intelligence and instead amplify human ingenuity, and that as capabilities improve they represent not merely artificial intelligence but a new era of Super Intelligence. The fact sheet claimed the United States has led the development and deployment of AI for more than 70 years since it emerged as a research field. It also cited more than $5 billion announced for the Genesis Mission, which targets breakthroughs in science, medicine, energy and manufacturing, and more than 90 federal actions identified in the July 2025 AI Action Plan.

The order came right after a White House luncheon. Speaking to reporters outside the West Wing, Trump said, "We've changed the name officially today," adding, "The name has been officially changed by the biggest, the smartest, the greatest people anywhere in the world." According to reports, however, the document the executives signed at the lunch was a two-page White House Accord on Super Intelligence, and it contained no declaration of a name change. The accord was signed by six executives: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Musk, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The signatories agreed that each company is responsible for developing its own technology safely and committed to meet regularly to establish safety standards. Trump said the document is morally binding.

The new name had been previewed. According to reports, in the week before the order Trump asked his social media followers in a poll whether they preferred SUPER INTELLIGENCE or SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE. He later posted that the White House considers anyone who uses the term artificial intelligence instead of super intelligence THE ENEMY. Right after taking office he signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and in August he signed one renaming Lake Ontario Lake America.

The industry responded quickly. Benioff's SIForce announcement came within hours of Trump's ENEMY post. Jensen Huang attended the summit where the order was announced and has said the dangers of AI are overblown. Nvidia's $1 billion commitment to scientific advancement, which includes super intelligence research, fits the same pattern. METAL previously reported that Nvidia committed $1 billion to U.S. science research. Nadella repeatedly called the technology super intelligence in a post urging an emergency brake for AI. METAL previously reported on Nadella's essay arguing AI models should be treated like insider risks.

Public opinion points the other way. In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted September 24 to 27, 25% approved of Trump's handling of AI and 58% disapproved. That is lower than his approval on the Iran war (28%), the economy (31%) and U.S.-China policy (34%) in the same poll. The margin of error is 3.8 percentage points. The midterm elections are weeks away. Sen. Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, argued in a statement that "changing what we call artificial intelligence does nothing to address the very real risks that come with increasingly powerful AI systems." House Speaker Mike Johnson, who also attended the lunch, said, "Safety and innovation are not mutually exclusive pursuits."

The renaming moved the administration's language and companies' product names first, without touching the legal definition. The next things to watch are whether the legislative language due within 60 days actually broadens the definition of SI, and whether Big Tech's renaming turns into actions as concrete as the safety commitments written into the accord.