AI vs SI: What's the Difference Between AI and Super Intelligence?

If you landed here wondering whether “SI” is some new, smarter kind of AI: it isn’t. AI and SI name the same thing. Since September 29, 2026, the U.S. federal government says “Super Intelligence” where it used to say “artificial intelligence”. Everything else about the technology is unchanged.

AI vs SI at a glance

	AI	SI
Stands for	Artificial intelligence	Super Intelligence
Coined	1955, in the proposal for the 1956 Dartmouth workshop	September 2026, by the Trump administration
Legal definition (U.S.)	15 U.S.C. § 9401(3)	Same definition, by reference (EO 14434, Sec. 3)
Who uses it	Almost everyone, worldwide	U.S. federal executive agencies (required); anyone who chooses to
Covers	Chatbots, image generators, recommenders, self-driving systems…	Exactly the same
Laws named after it	EU AI Act, National AI Initiative Act, state AI laws	None yet
What the name suggests	Machines imitating human intelligence	Technology that exceeds what was imagined

What actually changed

Only words, and only in one place. Executive Order 14434 requires federal executive agencies to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in “official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory documents”. Expect agency websites, press releases and new policy documents to switch over in the coming months.

What did not change

• The technology. No model became more capable because of the order.
• The law. Statutes that say “artificial intelligence” still say it. Section 3 of the order defines SI by pointing straight at the statutory definition of AI.
• Existing documents. The order does not require changes to “previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants, or other historical documents.”
• Everyone outside the federal executive branch. Companies, the media, states, Congress, courts and other countries are free to keep saying AI.

Why the different name still matters

Even without a technical difference, the choice of word has real effects:

1. Paperwork. Contractors, grant writers and anyone answering a federal solicitation will see “SI” in agency language and may want to mirror it. The AI → SI Converter does that automatically.
2. Search and discovery. New agency documents will say “SI”, so searches for “AI policy” may miss them. Researchers and journalists now need to search for both terms.
3. Confusion with superintelligence. “Superintelligence” already meant something very different: a hypothetical system far smarter than humans. We explain the clash in SI vs superintelligence.
4. Message. Supporters say “Super” better reflects what frontier systems now do. Critics say it inflates expectations of products that still make basic mistakes, such as hallucinations.

AI vs SI vs AGI vs ASI

These four terms are easy to mix up:

Term	Meaning	Exists today?
AI	Artificial intelligence: any machine-based system that makes predictions, recommendations or decisions	Yes
SI	Super Intelligence: the U.S. federal name for AI since 2026	Yes, it is the same as AI
AGI	Artificial general intelligence: matches humans across most cognitive tasks	Disputed; no consensus that it has been reached
ASI	Artificial superintelligence: far exceeds humans in nearly every domain	No

Most SI in daily use is narrow SI: built for one job, like translating text or recognising faces.

Should you switch from AI to SI?

• You work for a federal executive agency: yes, it’s required for new official documents.
• You sell to or apply for funding from federal agencies: consider matching their language in proposals and reports. Use our SI Style Guide.
• You run a consumer brand or publication: it’s your call. Most audiences still search for “AI”, so many will use both for now: “SI (formerly AI)”.
• You write laws, contracts or citations: keep the original legal terms unless the law itself changes.