- President Trump has ordered agencies to adopt new terminology
- Six tech companies back a four-layer safety framework
- The 2026 FedCiv Summit will explore AI, cybersecurity and more
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing executive branch agencies to use the term “super intelligence” in place of artificial intelligence, along with a White House accord in which leaders of six technology companies committed to implementing safety controls and audits for frontier models.
As the executive branch updates how it refers to frontier technologies, federal civilian agencies continue to weigh how to adopt and govern AI across their missions. The Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 FedCiv Summit on Oct. 29 will bring together government and industry leaders to discuss AI deployment across government, data and cloud infrastructure, IT modernization, cybersecurity, and workforce readiness. Reserve your spot now to hear from the officials shaping federal civilian technology priorities.
The White House published the order Tuesday. Trump also shared a copy of the signed accord on Truth Social.
What Does the Super Intelligence Executive Order Require?
The order makes “super intelligence” and “SI” the executive branch’s official terminology, stating that the new name better reflects how far the capabilities of frontier systems have advanced. It also states that the executive branch will not recognize the older terms in applicable settings. Its main provisions are:
- Agencies must adopt the new terms in official communications, websites, reports, policy documents and other non-statutory materials, to the maximum extent the law allows.
- Earlier records are exempt. Agencies do not need to revise contracts, grants, regulations, presidential actions or other historical documents that have already been issued.
- The current legal definition still applies. Until a president or Congress acts otherwise, super intelligence covers the same technologies defined as artificial intelligence under section 9401(3) of title 15 of the U.S. Code.
- A new federal definition is due within 60 days. The assistant to the president for science and technology will draft proposed legislative language for the president and may consult agency heads.
- The proposal must address the existing statute. It will evaluate whether the new definition should expand or replace the current one, identify any conforming amendments, and recommend further executive actions.
What Is the White House Accord on Super Intelligence?
The accord, subtitled “Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities,” states that each company developing frontier models is responsible for the safety of its own technology and for earning the trust of customers and the public. The signatories agreed to put four layers of controls and audits in place:
- Internal monitoring controls will track model capabilities and alignment during training and deployment. These controls focus on cybersecurity, biosecurity and chemical threats and are meant to prevent models from hacking or accessing technical systems in unintended ways.
- A dedicated internal team will confirm that controls and detection tools are working and that identified problems are corrected.
- An independent outside auditor or evaluator will assess whether those safeguards are functioning as intended.
- An independent board committee will receive reports from internal teams and external auditors and make sure issues are remediated.
The participating companies also agreed to meet regularly to develop safety standards and best practices. The accord says these measures could eventually become law or regulation. It adds that the companies are committed to carrying them out whether or not they are required.
In addition to the president, the accord’s other signatories are Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet; Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta; Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI; Elon Musk, founder of xAI and a previous Wash100 awardee; and Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA.
How Does the Latest Order Build on Other White House AI Actions?
The latest EO follows a January 2025 executive order directing the development of an AI action plan to maintain U.S. leadership in the technology.
In June, the White House issued an executive order advancing AI innovation to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity, which stated that its framework does not authorize mandatory licensing or preclearance requirements for frontier models. Around the same time, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation signed agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft and xAI to test frontier models before and after public release.
