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By Megan Cartwright
Associate News Editor
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Elon Musk said on Sunday that SpaceXAI, the company behind Grok, will be renamed "SpaceXSI," a move that comes as President Donald Trump announced a new federal Super Intelligence Force.
Musk's comment was in response to an X user suggesting the rebrand on Sunday.
Newsweek contacted Musk and the White House for comment on October 4.
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Last month, Trump signed an executive order replacing the terms "artificial intelligence" and "AI" with "Super Intelligence" and "SI" across executive branch communications.
Analysts previously told Newsweek the shift would be difficult to establish unless major industry leaders embraced the new terminology.
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Musk Signals Support for 'SI' Branding
Musk appeared to endorse the terminology change in a brief exchange on October 4.
The Tesla CEO said on X: "No more AI. SI It’s better."
In response, X user XFreeze asked: "Any possibility of renaming to SpaceXSI??"
Musk replied: "Yes, we will make that change."
SpaceXAI develops Grok, the chatbot platform that competes with products from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft.
While Musk did not provide further details, the comment suggests a willingness to adopt the language promoted by the White House. Despite Musk's informal social media reply, no official corporate name change has been formally announced.
Trump Announces New Super Intelligence Force
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the Super Intelligence Force would coordinate the federal government's approach to super intelligence and oversee engagement with consumers, public-interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers and technology companies.
He noted that the effort follows a "Historic White House Accord on Super Intelligence" involving major technology firms and is intended to help maintain U.S. leadership in the field.
Trump described super intelligence as a technology that could have a greater impact than both the Industrial Revolution and the internet. He said the task force would be led by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, while reporting to both the president and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the task force has been given 120 days to deliver a report assessing the risks and opportunities of super intelligence and outlining what role the federal government should play in overseeing the technology.
Trump's Push to Rename AI
Under Trump’s executive order, agencies are instructed to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" instead. The document argues that modern AI systems have advanced far beyond what was originally envisioned when the technology first received its current name.
Trump had previewed the change during remarks to the United Nations General Assembly, saying the word "artificial" makes the technology sound "fake" despite its growing capabilities.
Before issuing the order, Trump also asked Truth Social users whether they preferred "super intelligence" or "superior intelligence." More than 50,000 people responded, with 65 percent backing "super intelligence."
A Question Facing the Tech Industry
Whether the new terminology spreads beyond government remains uncertain.
Marketing expert Jean-Pierre Dubé of the University of Chicago previously told Newsweek that "super intelligence" already has an established meaning in technology circles, where it is commonly used to describe systems that exceed human cognitive performance across a wide range of domains.
Dubé said that the existing definition could create confusion and make widespread adoption difficult. He added that any successful rebranding effort would likely depend on support from leading companies and executives.
Professor Dhaval Thakker, head of the Centre for Responsible AI at the University of Hull in the U.K., told Newsweek that Musk's endorsement gives the term its most significant private-sector advocate yet and increases its visibility beyond government circles. However, he agreed that "super intelligence" already has a specific meaning in AI research.
"Calling today's AI systems 'super intelligence' risks blurring the distinction between the systems we currently have and a much more advanced capability that remains an important subject of research and debate," Thakker said.
He said Musk has significant influence over public technology narratives and can rapidly move terminology from political debate into mainstream discussion. Even so, he expects AI to remain the dominant term internationally because it is deeply embedded across research, education, regulation and industry.
White House Focus on Emerging Technology
Trump's order was signed on the same day he hosted a White House summit with technology leaders including Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Discussion at the event centered on the rapid development of AI systems and their potential impact on society.
The administration has also launched America.gov, a chatbot-style government portal designed to help people navigate federal programs, services and benefits.
What Happens Next
Attention is likely to turn to whether other major AI companies adopt the new terminology, and not all experts believe Musk's backing will be enough to drive widespread adoption.
Professor Atif Azad, a specialist in artificial intelligence strategy, said the rebrand could resonate with the public as AI capabilities continue to advance. However, he added that researchers are unlikely to abandon terminology that has been established for decades.
Azad said that Musk has previously shaped technology narratives through branding efforts such as Tesla's "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" labels. Azad added that the continued use of "Twitter" years after its rebranding as X was evidence that entrenched terminology can be difficult to replace.
Others were even more skeptical. Michael Rovatsos, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh, said "superintelligence" has long referred to a hypothetical future capability rather than a replacement for AI itself. He argued that widespread adoption is unlikely because the term could amplify public concerns about advanced AI systems and create unnecessary confusion about what current technology can actually do.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes, James Debens and Cristina Diciu.
Update, 10/07/26 7:39 a.m. ET: this article was updated with expert comment.
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