State Department orders staff to call AI ‘super intelligence’

The State Department has ordered personnel to use “Super Intelligence,” or “SI,” instead of “artificial intelligence” in new official communications. The instruction applies across the department, not just to technology specialists. It brings the president’s terminology change into diplomatic writing, public messaging, and internal operations.

Employees must use the new term in letters, emails, public messages, websites, reports, remarks, and policy documents. Official titles and names of department governance bodies, systems, platforms, inventories, and programs must also replace “AI” with “SI.” Existing material should be updated the next time staff revise it.

The directive does not apply without limits. Legal language, citations, contracts, grants, archived material, and certain existing presidential titles are protected. The change therefore affects the department’s continuing communications and organizational labels, while preserving wording that officials must reproduce exactly or that awaits further guidance.

The State Department’s instruction is unusually broad because it changes both language and institutional labels. Staff must use “Super Intelligence” or “SI” in new letters, emails, public messages, websites, reports, remarks, and policy documents. The requirement covers routine communication as well as formal public and policy material.

It also applies to official titles and names for department governance bodies, systems, platforms, inventories, and programs. One concrete example is the American AI Exports Program, which the department now calls the American SI Exports Program. Its public website already uses the revised name for the program’s work helping American companies sell technology overseas.

The rule is prospective rather than a complete rewrite. Existing documents should change when staff next revise them, but previously published documents, cables, and archived web pages should not be reissued solely for terminology. Foreign organizations’ names remain unchanged, including China’s World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization.

In computing science, “superintelligence” generally refers to an intelligence that exceeds human abilities across many tasks. It is a different concept from the generative artificial intelligence technologies used today, which produce text, images, code, or other content within existing system capabilities. The article explicitly distinguishes these meanings.

The State Department is not announcing that its systems have reached that scientific meaning. Instead, its cable instructs employees to substitute “Super Intelligence,” or “SI,” wherever department materials previously used “AI.” This is a terminology policy, not a technical finding about what current systems can do.

For now, the executive order defines “Super Intelligence” as the same technologies and systems covered by the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence. That legal equivalence lets agencies apply one administrative label while the scientific meaning of superintelligence remains different from current generative AI.

The State Department uses “Super Intelligence” as the same category as AI because President Trump’s September 29 executive order directs agencies to adopt the new terminology across official communications. The order also defines “Super Intelligence” for now through the existing statutory definition of artificial intelligence.

That mechanism matters. Agencies can change labels in communications, titles, and program names without rewriting the underlying legal scope of the technology. The State Department’s cable therefore tells staff to replace “AI” with “SI,” while preserving legal citations and language required by statutes, regulations, treaties, and other instruments.

The arrangement is administrative rather than scientific. The article notes that computing science uses “superintelligence” differently from current generative AI technologies. For government purposes, however, the same systems remain covered for now, allowing the department to implement the executive order without creating a separate legal framework.

The State Department’s renaming rule has defined limits. Employees must preserve wording required by law, along with existing citations and quotations from statutes, regulations, treaties, and other legal instruments. Those materials cannot simply be rewritten to match the new terminology.

Contracts and grants are also excluded while the department develops further guidance. Previously published documents, cables, and archived web pages should not be revised or reissued only to change “AI” to “SI.” Existing presidential actions, programs, and organizations also keep their published titles unless the department gives different instructions.

The cable protects names outside the department’s control as well. Employees must not rename foreign organizations in internal writing, including China’s World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. These exceptions allow the department to adopt the new term in active work without altering binding language, historical records, or established external names.

Using “SI” changes how U.S. diplomats describe a fast-evolving technology in policy documents, public remarks, and discussions with overseas counterparts. The terminology will appear in official writing and speech, making the vocabulary of U.S. diplomacy different from the language used by many foreign organizations and partners.

The article gives a concrete institutional effect. The American AI Exports Program has become the American SI Exports Program, and its public website already uses that name. Senior officials have also adopted “SI” publicly, including National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross and OPM CIO Adam Starr.

The immediate effect is a broad vocabulary transition, not a technical reclassification. Existing legal and foreign names remain protected, while active materials change during ordinary revisions. If the policy continues, future department programs, websites, policy documents, and diplomatic discussions will increasingly use “SI,” unless later guidance changes the rule.

Government agencies use official terminology to create a common reference point across policy, legal, technical, and administrative work. A defined term can identify which systems fall within a program, which office has responsibility, and which documents or activities require review. Consistent language also helps agencies coordinate communications and funding decisions.

The State Department example shows the mechanism. The executive order supplies the terminology, the department cable translates it into instructions, and staff apply it to communications, official titles, systems, platforms, inventories, governance bodies, and programs. The American SI Exports Program demonstrates how a label can reach both administration and public-facing work.

Terminology does not automatically change the technology itself. Here, “Super Intelligence” remains tied to AI’s existing statutory definition, while legal citations and contracts are protected. The change can still shape future coordination by giving agencies a shared label, subject to later legal or policy guidance.