What “Super Intelligence” Means in US Law (and Why It Is Not ASI)

When the White House announced that federal agencies would say “Super Intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence”, most coverage stopped at the headline. The more useful question is what the term now means in law. The executive order answers it in one sentence, and the answer is less dramatic than the name.

How does the executive order define “Super Intelligence”?

The order “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence”, signed on 29 September 2026, states that “Super Intelligence” and “SI” “mean the technologies and systems encompassed by the term ‘artificial intelligence’ as defined in section 9401(3) of title 15, United States Code.” In other words, the order does not create a new category of technology. It attaches a new name to the existing statutory definition of AI. Every system that counted as AI under federal law on 28 September counts as SI from 29 September, and nothing else does.

The order tells executive branch entities to use the new terms “in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory documents.” It also says that “nothing in this section requires the alteration of previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants, or other historical documents.”

What does 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) actually say?

Section 9401(3) comes from the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, enacted as Division E of Public Law 116-283 on 1 January 2021. The full definition reads:

The term “artificial intelligence” means a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. Artificial intelligence systems use machine and human-based inputs to (A) perceive real and virtual environments; (B) abstract such perceptions into models through analysis in an automated manner; and (C) use model inference to formulate options for information or action.

- 15 U.S.C. 9401(3)

Two things stand out. First, the definition is about function, not about how capable a system is: a machine-based system that pursues human-defined objectives and makes predictions, recommendations or decisions. Second, it is broad. Read literally, it reaches ordinary systems such as recommendation engines and spam filters as well as large language models. Under the new federal vocabulary, those systems are all “Super Intelligence”.

Is “Super Intelligence” (SI) the same as artificial superintelligence (ASI)?

No. In research, artificial superintelligence (ASI) is a hypothetical future stage. Google DeepMind researchers, in the June 2026 paper “From AGI to ASI”, describe it as a system more intelligent and cognitively capable than large organisations of humans. No such system exists, and no agreed test for one exists either. The federal term SI covers today’s technology; the research term ASI describes a capability level nobody has reached.

For a fuller explanation of AI, AGI and ASI, and how Meta, OpenAI and DeepMind use the word superintelligence, see our explainer on AI vs AGI vs ASI.

What could change next?

The order gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days, so until roughly 28 November 2026, to submit proposed legislative language. That proposal is to assess whether the SI definition should “modify, expand upon, or otherwise supersede the existing statutory definition”, to suggest conforming amendments to statutory references to AI, and to recommend any further executive action.

A proposal is not a law. Changing the definition in title 15 of the US Code would take an act of Congress. Until that happens, the legal meaning of SI is fixed to the existing AI definition, whatever the name suggests. We will update this page when the proposal is published.

What does this mean for companies that write about AI?

• ▸Keep “AI” as your main term. The order binds the US executive branch, not search behaviour. Buyers still type “AI” and “artificial intelligence”, and so does every other government.
• ▸If you sell to US federal agencies, map the terms. The order covers agency websites and reports, so expect SI there; procurement documents may follow. A one-line note in proposals (“SI as defined in the executive order of 29 September 2026, i.e. AI under 15 U.S.C. 9401(3)”) removes ambiguity.
• ▸Define your terms explicitly for AI search. Answer engines penalise ambiguous entities. Pages that say clearly which meaning of “super intelligence” they use are easier to retrieve and cite correctly. More on that in GEO vs SEO.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• ▸The White House: Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence (executive order), 29 September 2026
• ▸15 U.S.C. 9401, Definitions (Cornell LII), from the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, Public Law 116-283, Division E
• ▸IAPP: AI by any other name, White House directs federal agencies to enter the era of super intelligence, September 2026
• ▸Genewein et al., Google DeepMind: From AGI to ASI (arXiv:2606.12683), 10 June 2026