Executive Order 14434 gives the U.S. executive branch a new word for a set of systems the law already defines: superintelligence (SI), written "Super Intelligence" in the order. Signed on 29 September 2026, it says the executive branch "shall use the terms 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' in place of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI'" [1]. What SI means in place of "AI" is fixed by its Sec. 3(a): the technologies and systems covered by the definition at 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) [1, 2]. The executive branch's label changes, and the set of systems it names stays where the statute put it.
This explainer reads the order section by section and records what the Federal Register shows from 2 October to 6 November 2026 [5, 7]. It reads public texts and gives no legal advice.
What Executive Order 14434 says, section by section
The order was filed with the Office of the Federal Register on 1 October 2026 and published on 2 October at 91 FR 63129, as document 2026-20321 [4]. Its text in the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, DCPD-202600656, matches the Federal Register word for word [1, 4].
| Section | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sec. 1, policy | The executive branch uses the new terms "to the maximum extent permitted by law" and "will not acknowledge the usage of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in any applicable setting" | [1] |
| Sec. 2(a), documents | Agencies use the new terms in "official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory documents within the executive branch" | [1] |
| Sec. 2(b), what stays | Nothing "requires the alteration of previously issued regulations, Presidential actions, contracts, grants, or other historical documents" | [1] |
| Sec. 3(a), definition | SI means the technologies and systems encompassed by the statutory definition at 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) | [1] |
| Sec. 3(b), proposal | Within 60 days, proposed legislative language for a Federal definition goes to the President | [1] |
| Sec. 4, general provisions | Agency authority stands, the order follows applicable law and appropriations, and it creates no enforceable right | [1] |
The order does not define "applicable setting". The White House fact sheet released with it lists the covered documents without websites and reports, which the order's own text includes [1, 19].
What "SI" in place of "AI" means
Sec. 3(a) points to a statute enacted on 1 January 2021 [1, 2]. Its 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" [2]. Read as text, it sets no level of ability. Under the order, SI covers the same systems the statute's term covers.
Superintelligence in research and dictionaries sets a higher bar. Nick Bostrom's 1998 definition is "an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains in practically every field" [23]. The Cambridge Dictionary gives "a thing, for example a computer, that has a higher level of intelligence than humans" [24]. The order's Sec. 1 speaks of "rapidly advancing capabilities", and Sec. 3(b) asks for a later definition that reflects them [1]. The definition in force ties SI to the statutory set at any level of ability (this report's reading) [1, 2].
The letters are the same and the scope differs, so a document's own definition or citation says which sense it uses. Rillor's company page says SI stands for superintelligence and that Rillor uses SI in the same sense as the order.
Who the order binds, and what stays as written
The order speaks to "the executive branch" and to "executive departments and agencies" [1]. Sec. 4(c) says it does not "create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party" [1]. One law firm note sums it up: "It does not change any statute, it imposes no obligations on private parties, and it has no penalty or enforcement provision" [3]. The Library of Congress is "An agency of the legislative branch" [33], and two of its Copyright Office documents published after the order contain only the statute's term (computed for this report from [5, 7]).
Sec. 2(b) leaves earlier documents alone. On 7 November 2026 the old term was still in place, in older texts and in one new CFR section:
- The statute itself names the "National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office" [22].
- Of 27 executive orders published since 20 January 2025 that contain the statute's term, 7 carry it or its abbreviation in their titles [26].
- The eCFR counts 41 results for the statute's term in the current Code of Federal Regulations and 0 for "super intelligence" [27, 31].
- 21 CFR 864.3900, a section whose only eCFR version is dated 5 November 2026, carries the old term in its heading, for a device classification applicable since 31 January 2024 [13, 34].
What five weeks of the Federal Register show
From 2 October to 6 November 2026, 16 Federal Register documents contained "super intelligence", against none from 27 August to 1 October [5, 6]. Documents with the statute's term went from 33 to 35 over the same two windows [7, 8], and 9 documents from 2 October contained both (computed for this report from [5, 7]).
Agencies handle the change in several ways:
- A mapping footnote. A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) payment rule of 6 November 2026 says in footnote 173 that the new term "is used herein to refer to what was formerly called" the old one [9].
- A renamed office. A health IT rule of 28 October 2026 names the "Office of the HHS Chief Super Intelligence Officer" and gives the office's old name in parentheses [10].
- Renamed priorities. The Department of Education proposes to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of the old term and its abbreviation "in every use of the terms", with limited exceptions [11].
- A new defined term. A Treasury proposal on outbound investment proposes a section headed "Super Intelligence (SI) System", with a definition "generally consistent with the existing definition" under the old term, "but with some modifications" [12].
- A notice titled in the new term. A Coast Guard notice of 26 October 2026 concerns "Super Intelligence (SI) Situational Awareness Tools" for search and rescue [36].
Websites moved too. On 7 November 2026 the federal policy site's earlier address opened SI.gov, and NIST's topic page and standards center carried the new name, while NIST's risk management framework kept its published title [35, 37, 38, 39].
Reading documents that use both terms
For anyone who reads or extracts from federal text published after 2 October 2026, three problems stand out.
One statutory set now carries two labels. A search or extraction schema that matches one misses the other: of the 42 documents in the second window that contain either phrase, 26 contain only the statute's term (computed for this report from [5, 7]). Where a document writes its own definition, as the Treasury proposal does, that definition and its date belong with the label. Fields tied to the exact phrase they came from let a reviewer check each one. The eCFR dates each version of a section [13], and regulatory change from official sources sets out what each official source records.
"SI" already means other things. In the same CMS rule, SI is mostly a payment status indicator: of 48 uses of SI as a word of its own, 46 are status indicators and two, "SI-assisted prior authorization" and "SI-enabled utilization management", abbreviate super intelligence (counted for this report) [9]. NIST uses SI for the International System of Units [14]. Matching the letters needs the document's own expansion.
Citations can be wrong. The Education notice cites the order four times as "E.O. 14344", which is an order on federal architecture, while its Federal Register citation, 91 FR 63129, points to the right one [4, 11, 15]. Resolving a citation by its page and checking the title catches the error, a check like those in how to check LLM citations against their sources.
Rillor's document and regulation intelligence work turns rules, contracts and filings into records your systems can check, and each field links to the passage it came from, with a person reviewing every record.
The date to watch: 28 November 2026
Sec. 3(b) gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days to submit proposed legislative language for a Federal definition of SI that "reflects the capabilities described in section 1 of this order" [1]. Sixty days from 29 September 2026 is Saturday 28 November 2026 (computed for this report) [1]. The language goes to the President, and the order does not say whether it is to be made public [1, 3].
Later Presidential action or an Act of Congress can supersede the order's own definition [1]. The statute is another matter: "Only Congress can change the statutory definition" [3]. If Congress adopts a new one, "whether broader or narrower, it could change which technologies, products, and services fall within laws that rely on the current definition" [3]. Comments close on the Coast Guard notice on 25 November 2026 and on the Treasury and Education proposals on 7 December 2026, and the CMS rule takes effect on 1 January 2027 [9, 11, 12, 36].
Read the full report
The full report adds the statute's definition with each of its parts, the Federal Register and eCFR queries with their counts, the agency examples with their dates and all 43 sources.