Trump Announces ‘Super Intelligence Force’ That Raises Super-Sized Questions About The Future Of AI

Renaming AI To Be Super Intelligence

I’ll begin with a quick overview of the two AI-related actions that Trump undertook on Tuesday, September 29, 2026. This will provide useful context for discussing the announcement made today about the AI SIF.

You might be aware that Trump has been suggesting for a while that AI and Artificial Intelligence ought to be renamed. He even did an informal poll of public sentiment via his social media posts proposing alternative names for AI. Voilà, he ultimately opted to issue an official EO stipulating that “AI” and “Artificial Intelligence” shall become “SI” and “Super Intelligence” within the executive branch of the federal government. If this were purely a name swap, the matter probably wouldn’t be especially weighty, but it turns out the EO indicates that within 60 days a new definition for SI and Super Intelligence is going to be declared. In my view, the new definition is going to indubitably create legal complications of significant importance and generate a maelstrom of work for lawyers and the courts; see my analysis at the link here.

The other action taken on September 29, 2026, was the signing of a pledge about AI safety. The signees of the pledge, in addition to President Trump, included Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), Sundar Pichai (Google), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), and Greg Brockman (OpenAI). Those are certainly impressive signees on the AI side of things. On the other hand, they aren’t all such potential signees. The crux is that even if those AI makers rigorously abided by the pledge, lots of other AI makers and AI developers have no ties whatsoever to the pledge. Does having a handful of the big-tier AI makers serve as a sufficient deterrent? Some argue it does, acting symbolically to spur others to be more mindful, while others say it is a drop in the bucket and everyone else is going to summarily ignore the provisions of the pledge. For my in-depth analysis of the pledge, see the link here.

The Super Intelligence Force

On Sunday, October 4, 2026, directly coming on the heels of the two actions earlier in the week, President Trump made a surprise posting on Truth Social about the establishment of an entity that he has coined as the Super Intelligence Force or SIF. I will walk you through the key points of the posting and give you my assessment of what it all means.

One notable aspect that I’d like to instantly bring to your attention is that you can, for the moment, construe this as being an Artificial Intelligence Force, in the sense that until the new definition for Super Intelligence is prepared and published, the default for SI and Super Intelligence is that they are the equivalent of saying AI and Artificial Intelligence.

The gist is that since we don’t yet know what Super Intelligence officially means, go ahead and assume that this is the establishment of an entity associated with AI. Once the Super Intelligence definition comes out, I’ll assess what the new definition consists of and will revisit all three actions of this week’s trifecta. It could be that if “Super Intelligence” is defined as something beyond or askew from AI, or creates a new vantage point about AI, the nature and role of the EO, the pledge, and now the new SIF could be demonstrably impacted. Stay tuned.

The SIF Announcement

Let’s look at the opening portion of Trump’s posting. His first point refers to the pledge and the EO that I mentioned above. The second point sketches a general indication of what the SIF is going to be.

Here is the initial portion of the Truth Social post:

• “Following the Historic White House Accord on Super Intelligence, where the World’s most important Technology Companies came together, and confirmed their responsibilities to the American People, I am announcing the formation of the Super Intelligence Force (SIF).”
• “The Super Intelligence Force is tasked with coordinating the effort of the Federal Government to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet, and will protect the interests, and improve the lives, of all Americans.”

You might carefully observe that the Super Intelligence Force is seemingly an entity tasked with “coordinating the effort of the Federal Government” regarding the use and governance of AI. I would naturally assume this means how AI will be utilized in governmental operations, how the government will ask or reward contractors to employ AI, how the government will encourage businesses to leverage AI, and so on.

More Nuances

One crucial interpretation is that this has principally to do with the executive branch, including its various federal agencies, and does not directly have anything to do with the legislative branch (Congress) or the judicial branch (the courts). Presumably, Trump is staying within his lane of the executive branch for this SIF formulation.

That being said, the odds would seem relatively high that whatever the Super Intelligence Force does or promulgates throughout the executive branch is likely to have a spillover effect on the other major branches of government. Furthermore, the chances are that the AI-related efforts and policies of the USA states, cities, counties, and other local jurisdictions will directly or indirectly be impacted by whatever the SIF decides to do.

A rippling or cascading effect seems significantly probable to me. I mention this so that those who are already dissing on the SIF on social media and claiming that it will become buried within the morass of the federal government, well, do not be so quick to reach that hasty conclusion. I believe the Super Intelligence Force is going to be tremendously consequential, though we will need to wait and see whether it is on the upside or downside of consequentialism.

The Who Of The SIF

You might be wondering who is going to be heading the new Super Intelligence Force. The leadership chosen for the SIF will be a highly visible signal or sign of what the entity is likely to proceed with, how fast it will go, how widely it will aim, etc.

Turns out that the posting indicated that four personnel will jointly co-lead the Super Intelligence Force:

• Jay Clayton, Director of National Intelligence
• Andrew Ferguson, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering and Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Scott Kupor, Director of the Office of Personnel Management

Mull that over for a moment. We would customarily assume that only one person would be put in charge of an entity. That’s how most organizations are run. Instead, Trump has chosen four leaders. The online scuttlebutt is that Jay Clayton will be in the prime seat, and the others will co-lead but with less intense involvement in comparison. It’s a bit early to say. Time will tell.

To Whom Does SIF Report

The probing question at hand is: why select four co-leaders? Wouldn’t it be easier to have one person in charge? You know how it normally goes: select a preferred person as the head of the new entity and then insist that the buck stops there.

One possibility is that this is a declaration that the SIF is going to be an across-the-board executive branch overseer about AI. If a specific individual was anointed as the head, it might have suggested subtly to other parts of the executive branch that they don’t really need to abide by whatever the SIF says. Only those who were directly connected with that person would imagine they are encompassed by the SIF. But, by having four co-leads in varying realms of the executive branch, this could be seen as a silent but notable move to proclaim that the SIF is going to be abundantly heard and given due respect throughout the entirety of the executive branch.

A related consideration is where the SIF reports to. A federal entity can readily be placed many levels below the top and ultimately never see the light of day. No one will know or remember that the entity exists. The higher an entity reports, the more likely it will pull weight within the federal government. According to the posting, the SIF will report to President Trump and Susie Wiles, his highly trusted Chief of Staff. On paper, this certainly seems to give a lot of juice to the new Super Intelligence Force. Will the SIF truly get airtime with the President and the Chief of Staff? Again, time will tell.

Controversy Already Taking Place

I would say that the biggest controversy about the Super Intelligence Force came about because it not only mentioned the who of the SIF but also indicated an aspect about the other stakeholders and has set off a modest round of an online firestorm accordingly.

Here’s the portion of the posting that caught the ire of some online and includes the who indications along with the envisioned stakeholders (it’s a fully packed sentence):

• “The Super Intelligence Force will coordinate the Federal Government’s engagement with Consumers, Public Interest Groups, Religious Organizations, Critical Infrastructure Providers, and Super Intelligence Companies, and will be led by Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, and Chief Technology Officer, Emil Michael, and Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Scott Kupor, and will report to the President of the United States (ME!), and the Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.

Can you discern what wording in that lengthy sentence caused an outcry by some online? I’ll give you a moment to review it.

The Devout Kerfuffle

Let’s find the triggering element together. The long sentence starts with listing stakeholders such as consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers, and AI/SI makers who will be engaged with the Super Intelligence Force. This seems innocuous.

Wait a moment, which of those stakeholders stands out and doesn’t quite seem like the rest of them? Did your eye catch on the inclusion of religious organizations? For some, this was a bridge too far.

You see, some have been decrying online that there shouldn’t be any connection whatsoever between the federal government’s views on AI and somehow tilting or engaging with religious organizations. Those acrid online voices are hollering that there must be a separation of church and state. Another similar angle is that maybe this is an insidious way to steer religious groups toward or possibly away from AI. In fact, maybe it has something to do with whether religions agree or disagree with the contention that AI is beginning to showcase indications of consciousness. All manners of speculation and conjecture are avidly taking place online.

All told, it is premature to say whether the mention of religious organizations and the SIF is a significant and calculated wording or maybe it was an offhand inclusion. Right now, and until the SIF begins to get further defined, all we can deduce is that time will tell.

The World We Are In

A final thought for you on this latest twist in AI policy and governance. Abraham Lincoln famously made this remark: “Democracy is government of, by, and for the people.” Let’s apply this monumental premise to the Super Intelligence Force.

Some will perceive the Super Intelligence Force as a meaningful way to glean value from AI and ensure that our federal government stays on top of being efficient and effective by mindfully adopting and deploying AI. In turn, this will spur the rest of American society to likewise embrace AI. Of course, not everyone will see things that way. Others will take a dim and dark view of the SIF. How much will it cost the taxpayers? Will it get in the way of federal services? Might it gum up our government? Could it make us all more vulnerable to AI that can falter and perhaps eventually doom us all in terms of existential risk and the extinction of humanity?

No matter which side of the aisle you are on, this announcement about the Super Intelligence Force ought to be given due attention. Rumors are that the SIF will prepare a report about their mission and approach to AI/SI, which might be crafted and released in the next 90 to 120 days. I’ll make sure to let you know when the time comes that the Super Intelligence Force makes that first move. Yes, indeed, time will tell.