Several prominent technology leaders have started using “super intelligence” in place of artificial intelligence after the White House instructed federal agencies to adopt the new term. The shift is visible even though the broader public and most technical work still use AI.
Elon Musk said SpaceXAI would become SpaceXSI, while Salesforce leader Marc Benioff announced an SIForce name in place of AIForce. Nvidia described part of a planned $1 billion science commitment as “super intelligence research.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also used the phrase repeatedly in a post advocating an emergency brake for advanced systems.
The companies have practical reasons to watch federal language. They sell infrastructure or services to government, depend on export and energy policy, and are seeking influence over rules for increasingly capable models. Adopting an administration’s terminology can signal alignment without changing the underlying technology.
The rebrand does not establish a new scientific category or show that current systems meet a shared definition of superintelligence. No technical threshold accompanies the phrase in this policy context. Its significance is political and commercial: language introduced by an executive order is moving into corporate communications, where it may shape public debate before researchers agree on what the term should mean.