Trump signs order on superintelligence with top AI executives

On 29 September 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence. The order directs federal agencies to replace the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official communications, websites, reports, and policy documents, wherever legally permitted.

Executive Order and Federal Usage

The directive applies to the executive branch and federal agencies in the United States. It instructs officials not to use “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in applicable official settings, while excluding retroactive changes to existing regulations, contracts, and historical documents.

The order states that the new terminology better fits technologies described as moving beyond imitation or automation of human intelligence. The President’s science and technology advisor has been given 60 days to propose legislation for a federal definition of “Super Intelligence”.

White House Meeting with Technology Executives

The announcement followed a White House luncheon on 29 September 2026 with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, Dario Amodei, and Greg Brockman. The participants represented Tesla and SpaceX, Meta, Google, Nvidia, Anthropic, and OpenAI.

During the meeting, the executives signed a voluntary accord called the Joint Commitment On Frontier Responsibilities. The accord is described as “morally binding” and concerns the safe development and deployment of frontier AI models.

Frontier AI Governance Framework

The accord sets out four layers of controls and audits for AI companies. These include internal safety monitoring, oversight by internal teams, partnerships with independent external auditors, and review by an independent committee.

President Trump also stated that his administration may create a 10-member committee to oversee the AI industry. He also said that an “AI czar” may be named in the coming days.

Important Facts for Exams

• Executive orders are directives issued by the President of the United States for federal executive agencies.
• Artificial Intelligence is a broad term for systems that perform tasks associated with human cognition, such as learning and decision-making.
• Frontier AI models are advanced systems trained on large datasets and large-scale computing infrastructure.
• External audits in AI governance are used to review safety, compliance, and risk controls by independent parties.

Artificial Intelligence and Super Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is a field of computer science concerned with machines that perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence. Super Intelligence is a term used for systems that are described as exceeding human intelligence across multiple domains.