Trump Wants Washington to Stop Saying AI and Start Saying Super Intelligence
President Donald Trump signed an order on September 29, 2026, telling federal agencies to say "super intelligence" instead of AI. On the same day, tech leaders including Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang and Amodei signed a voluntary safety pledge.
The White House brought top tech CEOs into one room to sign the safety pledge. President Trump announced the commitment in a post on Truth Social. He called the pledge signed by tech leaders "morally binding." TechCrunch
Those present included Elon Musk and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Mark Zuckerberg was also among the CEOs convened, representing Meta as a signatory to the commitment. Fortune The White House accord itself was signed alongside Musk, Zuckerberg, Huang and Amodei. Forbes
The order is titled "Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence" and was published on September 29, 2026. It tells government departments and agencies to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" as much as the law allows. The text is short. It changes the official name, not the technology.
The White House published a companion document titled "Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Inaugurates the Era of Super Intelligence" about the order. White House That fact sheet sits alongside the March 2026 unveiling of a National Super Intelligence Policy Framework, which laid out the earlier thinking behind the name change.
Separate from the naming order is the White House Accord on Super Intelligence. It is 308 words long. It lists four layers of safety checks and reviews that companies adopt by choice. Forbes The accord is a voluntary pact asking companies to police themselves on AI safety. Al Jazeera
Both Dario Amodei and Elon Musk have warned that unchecked AI could pose an existential risk to humanity, meaning a threat to human survival. Their presence as signatories brings two of the loudest voices on extreme risk inside this voluntary plan.
The broader context here helps explain what actually changes. This order does not change how AI systems are built or run. It changes paperwork, like replacing a label on every government form. Federal filings, grant requests, purchase documents, audit reports, and incident reports will now be expected to say "Super Intelligence" and "SI" where they said AI. Teams that keep model descriptions, test tools, activity logs, and access rules will need to update their terms.
In my view, the bigger question is what the four layers of checks and reviews will mean day to day. Each company decides how to do them. Checks can mean testing before release, inviting hackers to try to break the system, controlling release, and watching for problems after release. Reviews can mean a check by the company itself, by a partner, or by an outside expert with access to key files, data history, and test scores. A 308-word pledge cannot settle those details. The real meaning will come from how companies keep records, track versions, undo bad updates, and share results.
Worth flagging, the words "morally binding" do specific work. They show a personal promise from CEOs without creating a new law to enforce it. That promise can focus attention and money inside a company. It does not replace contracts, export rules, liability laws, or formal regulations. Teams should treat the accord as a stated intention to track, not as a rulebook that passes an outside audit by itself.
Looking at what this enables, there is reason for careful hope. Getting rival tech chiefs to sign the same short safety text gives a common starting point, much as my children’s schools once needed shared rules when phones first arrived in classrooms. Shared words and shared responsibility make common practices easier to build. If those four layers turn into clear checklists with the same tests and reporting forms, everyday users and businesses will face less confusion.
