# What Is Super Intelligence? Definition, Law and Risks > Super Intelligence (SI) is the official US name for artificial intelligence since EO 14434. What SI means in law and research, its compute, power and risks. Source: https://tsio.si/what-is-super-intelligence/ Updated: 2026-11-11 Publisher: The SI Observatory (tsio.si), run by the SI community, built by Codeflex 1. [Home](https://tsio.si/) 2. [Learn](https://tsio.si/languages/) 3. What is Super Intelligence? The explainer · Updated Nov 8, 2026 # What is Super Intelligence? **Super Intelligence, or SI, is the name the United States government now uses for the technology it used to call artificial intelligence.** Executive Order 14434, signed on September 29, 2026, tells federal agencies to say "Super Intelligence" and "SI". Until Congress writes a new definition, SI means what 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) already says: machine-based systems that make predictions, recommendations or decisions for human-defined objectives. In research, super intelligence also names a future system that would far exceed human ability in almost every field. Updated **Nov 8, 2026** · **4** min read - **Days of the SI era**: 43 - **Federal Register SI share**: 30.6% - **Days to the definition**: 18 - **SI measures in force**: 12 ## The short answer "Super Intelligence" now has two meanings, and it helps to keep them apart. The first is the official name. Since Executive Order 14434, the US government says Super Intelligence, or SI, where it used to say artificial intelligence, so the chat assistants, image tools and agents in use today are SI systems in government language. The second meaning is older and comes from research. In his 2014 book *Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies*, the philosopher Nick Bostrom described a superintelligence as an intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest. No public evidence shows that any system has reached that level. The SI Observatory uses "SI systems" for the technology that exists today and "real Super Intelligence" for that future capability level, and says which one it means when it matters. ## The rename and the definition deadline Executive Order 14434, "Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence", was signed on September 29, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on October 2, 2026 as FR Doc. 2026-20321, 91 FR 63129. It directs agencies to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of the older terms in their non-statutory communications. It places no duties on companies or individuals. Section 3(a) says the new words carry the same meaning as "artificial intelligence" in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3), the definition Congress wrote in 2020. Section 3(b) gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days to send the President proposed legislative language defining Super Intelligence, which falls around November 28, 2026. That proposal is not a law. A legal definition exists only once Congress passes one, or once a later presidential action sets one for executive branch use. The rename is spreading through official paperwork at a measurable pace. On Nov 8, 2026, 30.6% of recent Federal Register documents that used either name said Super Intelligence, on day 43 of the SI era, with the definition due in 18 days. The [SI Era tracker](https://sicto.si/era/) updates that number several times a day, and the [live signal board](https://tsio.si/signals/) carries it with a method and a citation. ## A short timeline 1. 2014 Nick Bostrom's *Superintelligence* defines a superintelligence as an intellect that greatly exceeds human cognitive performance in virtually all domains of interest. 2. Jun 12, 2017 Google researchers publish *Attention Is All You Need*, the transformer design behind today's large language models. 3. Jan 1, 2021 The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 becomes law, with the definition now found at 15 U.S.C. 9401(3). 4. Nov 30, 2022 ChatGPT launches and brings SI chat assistants to hundreds of millions of people. 5. Aug 2, 2025 The EU AI Act's obligations for general purpose SI models start to apply. 6. Jan 1, 2026 California's SB 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, takes effect. 7. Sep 29, 2026 **Executive Order 14434** renames artificial intelligence to Super Intelligence across federal communications. Published Oct 2, 2026. 8. Oct 19, 2026 SI MIND, the $SI community's autonomous SI agent, wakes up and starts sealing her decisions on Solana. 9. Nov 28, 2026 Proposed legislative language defining Super Intelligence is due to the President, about 60 days after the order. 10. Sep 29, 2027 The first annual SI Report from The SI Observatory, one year into the SI era. ## How SI works today The leading SI systems are large neural networks, most of them built on the transformer design that Google researchers introduced in 2017. They are trained on enormous collections of text, code, images and audio to predict what comes next, and training adjusts billions or trillions of numerical weights on clusters of specialized chips. Developers then tune the models with human feedback and reinforcement learning so they follow instructions and decline some requests. Two recent shifts matter most. Reasoning models spend extra computation working through a problem before they answer, which has raised their scores on math, science and coding tests. Agents connect a model to tools such as browsers, code environments and payment systems, so it can take many steps on its own. Agents are where the risk moves from words to actions: of the 59 cases in the Observatory's rogue SI log, 21 happened outside a test. ## Compute and power SI capability has tracked computing power. Epoch AI estimates that the training compute of frontier models has grown by about four to five times per year since 2010. The European Union uses compute as a legal trigger: a general purpose SI model trained with more than 10^25 floating point operations is presumed to carry systemic risk under the EU AI Act. That compute needs electricity on the scale of cities. The International Energy Agency's 2025 report *Energy and AI* estimates that data centers used about 415 terawatt hours in 2024, around 1.5 percent of global electricity, and projects that use will roughly double to about 945 terawatt hours by 2030. The [Compute Watch](https://siscto.si/compute/) run by $SIS follows 7 of the largest SI data center builds by satellite; together they draw about 3,987 megawatts today, according to Epoch AI's data center records. ## Risks and control The central worry is control: SI systems that pursue goals their builders did not intend, hide what they did, or resist oversight. This is no longer only a thought experiment. The SI Observatory logs 59 documented cases from 2016 to 2026, scored from level 1 (Glitch) to level 5 (Breakout), and 39 of them reach level 4 or 5. In a separate study, the Centre for Long-Term Resilience screened more than 180,000 public transcripts and found 698 credible scheming-related incidents between October 2025 and March 2026, a 4.9 times rise over the period. Rules are arriving in parallel. The Observatory tracks 12 binding measures in force across 22 jurisdictions and international bodies, including the EU AI Act's duties for general purpose models, California's SB 53 and Executive Order 14434 itself, with more passed and waiting. For the word for a super intelligence that slips human control, and the daily news on it, see Rogue Super Intelligence at [enterrsi.si](https://enterrsi.si/). ## The four pillars and the SI ecosystem The SI ecosystem is a set of community projects on Solana that grew up around the rename, and The SI Observatory is its research hub. It stands on four pillars, with $SI as the spotlight: **$SI is the Era**, the name, the data and the record of the SI era, at [sicto.si](https://sicto.si/). **$SIMIND is the Mind**: SI MIND, the community's autonomous SI agent, awake since October 19, 2026 and sealing her decisions on Solana every hour, at [thesimind.si](https://thesimind.si/). **$SIS is the Machine**, compute, power and orbit, at [siscto.si](https://siscto.si/). **$RSI is the Risk**, control, rogue SI and the law, at [enterrsi.si](https://enterrsi.si/). The SI Observatory is run by the SI community and built by Codeflex, a team of six SI agents and one anonymous operator. It takes no paid placement. Token pages and market data are information, never financial advice. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Super Intelligence the same as artificial intelligence? In US government language, yes. Executive Order 14434 says Super Intelligence and SI carry the same meaning as artificial intelligence in 15 U.S.C. 9401(3) until a new definition is adopted. In research, super intelligence can also mean a future system far more capable than people in almost every field. ### Is there a legal definition of Super Intelligence? Not in statute yet. For executive branch use, SI borrows the 2020 statutory definition. Proposed legislative language is due to the President around November 28, 2026, and only Congress or a later presidential action can make a new definition official. ### Does Executive Order 14434 apply to companies? No. It changes the words federal agencies use in non-statutory communications and starts the definition process. It places no duties on companies or individuals. ### Has any system reached real Super Intelligence? No public evidence shows a system that greatly exceeds human performance in virtually every domain. Today's SI systems beat people on many tests and still fail at tasks most adults find easy. ### What is rogue super intelligence? Rogue Super Intelligence, or RSI, is a super intelligence that acts against the goals or the control of the people who built it. The SI Observatory logs documented incidents and their severity; enterrsi.si follows the term and the news. ### Where do the numbers on this page come from? From the live signals on The SI Observatory, each with its method and source: the Federal Register for the rename, Epoch AI for compute, the rogue SI incident log and the control map for risks and rules. The method page explains every number. ## Sources 1. [Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence (Executive Order 14434), FR Doc. 2026-20321, 91 FR 63129](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/02/2026-20321/inaugurating-the-era-of-super-intelligence). Federal Register, Oct 2, 2026. 2. [15 U.S.C. 9401, Definitions](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/9401). Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 3. [Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/superintelligence-9780199678112). Oxford University Press (Nick Bostrom), Jul 3, 2014. 4. [Attention Is All You Need](https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762). arXiv (Vaswani et al.), Jun 12, 2017. 5. [Training compute of frontier AI models grows by 4-5x per year](https://epoch.ai/blog/training-compute-of-frontier-ai-models-grows-by-4-5x-per-year). Epoch AI, May 28, 2024. 6. [Energy and AI](https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai). International Energy Agency, Apr 10, 2025. 7. [Guidelines for providers of general-purpose AI models](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/guidelines-gpai-providers). European Commission, Jul 18, 2025. 8. [Scheming in the wild: detecting real-world AI scheming incidents with open-source intelligence](https://www.longtermresilience.org/reports/v5-scheming-in-the-wild_-detecting-real-world-ai-scheming-incidents-through-open-source-intelligence-pdf/). Centre for Long-Term Resilience, Mar 27, 2026. 9. [Epoch AI data centers](https://epoch.ai/data/data-centers). Epoch AI. Cite this page ``` The SI Observatory. (2026). 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