In the current naming debate, “SI” means super intelligence, not synthetic intelligence. The term is part of a reported push for US government communications to replace “artificial intelligence” with “super intelligence.” That changes the label, not what today’s AI systems can do—and the documented instruction so far is narrower than a government-wide renaming.
What does SI mean in this story?
Recent reporting connects “SI” to President Donald Trump’s proposal to call artificial intelligence “super intelligence.” It is a different proposal from the older idea of renaming AI “synthetic intelligence,” which also appears in informal discussions but is not the meaning in this current news story.
Trump gave his rationale at the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2026: “The use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake, it makes it sound fake and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing,” according to The Associated Press. That is an argument about how the name sounds, not a technical definition of the systems it describes.
What has the government actually changed?
AP reported that an email from Michael Drager, deputy assistant secretary of state for the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, instructed bureau employees: “Following the president’s remarks at the GA today, please change all references of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to ‘Super Intelligence’ in our documents and positions.”
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The documented instruction concerns that bureau’s documents and positions. AP said it was not immediately clear whether other State Department bureaus had received, or would receive, similar directions. The reporting therefore supports describing this as a government terminology push with a specific bureau-level instruction—not as proof of a government-wide order or a universal change in public or private-sector usage.
Does a new name imply more capable technology?
No. Renaming a field does not upgrade its systems. “Artificial intelligence” is a broad label covering research and applications with different capabilities. “Super intelligence” sounds like a stronger claim: it can suggest intelligence beyond human abilities, rather than the broad range of systems currently grouped under AI. The Week’s coverage relays specialists’ concern that the term may imply capacities present-day systems do not have; it is a synthesis of responses, not a formal technical consensus statement. Read The Week’s coverage.
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That distinction matters in government communication. An agency can choose preferred wording for its own documents, but the choice does not establish that every system called AI meets a “super” capability threshold. Readers should treat “SI” in this debate as a proposed name, not evidence of a technical breakthrough.
Why has “artificial intelligence” endured?
The name has a long history in the field. Stanford’s One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence says the term first appeared in a 1955 research proposal co-authored by John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon. The 1956 Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence helped unify the field’s identity, though important technical ideas existed before the workshop. See the Stanford AI100 report.
Replacing a familiar, established field name would require more than a government office adopting a preferred term. Researchers, companies, public institutions, and audiences would need to use and understand the replacement in a consistent way.
Do people prefer “SI” to “AI”?
Not in the poll figures Axios reported. A YouGov poll conducted the week of October 1, 2026 found that 53% preferred “artificial intelligence,” compared with 9% who preferred “super intelligence,” according to Axios. The story does not provide the sample size or full methodology, so those numbers should be read as the reported result of that poll—not as a complete measure of public opinion.
Axios also reported that executives at Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Nvidia signed a White House Accord on Super Intelligence. Its account says some company representatives expected the term’s use to remain limited to meetings with the president or federal work. That is not evidence that those companies have universally adopted “SI” in their products or style guides.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is “synthetic intelligence” a better alternative?
It is a separate naming suggestion, not the expansion of “SI” in the current government story. “Synthetic” might emphasize that machine intelligence is built rather than biological, while “super” suggests exceptional capability. Neither word alone settles what systems can do or supplies a precise technical boundary. The practical question is whether a new label makes communication more accurate for its audience; the current reporting does not establish that “synthetic intelligence” has become a standard replacement.
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How to read the renaming debate
- Check what the initials mean. In current coverage of the federal push, SI means “super intelligence.”
- Separate terminology from capability. A new label does not demonstrate that systems have acquired new abilities.
- Keep the scope precise. The reported written instruction applies to a State Department bureau; the sources do not establish a government-wide order.
- Distinguish endorsement from adoption. A public statement, an agency instruction, a corporate accord, and everyday technical usage are different kinds of evidence.
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