The US military is changing the term AI to SI to accelerate the deployment of autonomous combat operations.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have officially started replacing the term "artificial intelligence" (AI) with "superintelligence" (SI) in command documents, administrative texts, and training materials. The change follows a new executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, showing a commitment to speeding up the use of autonomous systems in future military plans.

The change is being introduced across the branches of the U.S. armed forces.

The change in wording began in the U.S. Navy with a NAVADMIN directive issued on October 22. The directive says that all electronic portals, correspondence, technical training materials, and fleet bulletins must use the term "superintelligence" and the abbreviation "SI" instead of the familiar term "AI".

A U.S. Navy representative said the new term reflects the goal of expanding combat technology at "hypersonic speed." The representative also acknowledged that current machine-learning systems have moved beyond the basic meaning of traditional automation. The next day, the U.S. Marine Corps Command issued a similar directive. It told its subordinate agencies to use the term "Superintelligence" as much as possible in internal reports, directives, and other documents that are not legal texts, while staying within the current legal framework.

According to Stars and Stripes, the U.S. Army and Air Force have not yet announced plans to make the same change. The Space Force is still considering how it will carry out the directive.

The legal basis for changing how the technology is described.

The change began with an executive order titled "Opening the Age of Superintelligence," signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on September 29. The order requires executive branch agencies and military forces to use the new term in documents that are not legal texts.

The White House argues that the term "artificial intelligence" no longer fully describes what the newest computer technologies can do. Current algorithms have gone beyond copying human thinking. They can develop new methods and improve how complex tasks are carried out. President Trump expressed a similar view at the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, where he stressed the practical role of machine intelligence in modern systems.

However, U.S. federal laws still use the legal term "artificial intelligence." For now, the change to "superintelligence" applies only to administrative documents and does not change the wording of federal laws. To establish a standard meaning for the new term, the executive order asked Michael Kratsios, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, to study the issue and propose an official federal definition of "superintelligence" by November 28. The goal is to make clear how the term should be used in practice.

The change is linked to plans for an Autonomous Combat Command.

Behind this change in terminology is the Pentagon's effort to reorganize its military resources, with a strong focus on drones, robots, and combat systems that can operate on their own. On September 30, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to create the Autonomous Combat Command (AUTOWARCOM).

AUTOWARCOM is expected to be organized as a four-star combat command with some powers similar to those of the military service branches. It will be the main organization responsible for designing, testing, and deploying systems that operate either fully or partly on their own. The Pentagon aims to establish the command by October 1, 2027, after receiving legal approval from the U.S. Congress. This is intended to speed up the use of advanced military technology in real operations.

The difference between the scientific meaning and practical use.

The term "artificial intelligence" was first introduced by scientist John McCarthy in 1955, before the 1956 Dartmouth conference. In contrast, the term "superintelligence," as discussed in computer science and popularized by philosopher Nick Bostrom since 2014, describes a possible future state in which machines have thinking and processing abilities far greater than those of humans.

For now, the September 29 executive order applies the existing federal legal definition of AI to the term "superintelligence." This includes all systems based on algorithms that predict outcomes, make recommendations, or help people make decisions according to set goals. As a result, the difference between a real advance in combat technology and simply changing the words used in official documents will become clearer as new technical and legal reports are produced.