Donald Trump’s ‘Super Intelligence’ push sparks Slovenian gold rush
Thousands of .si internet addresses have been snapped up after the US president ordered his government to ditch the term artificial intelligence in favour of SI.
Donald Trump’s attempt to consign the term “artificial intelligence” to history has coincided with an extraordinary rush to buy Slovenian internet addresses – because the country’s .si domain shares the initials of his preferred replacement of “Super Intelligence”.
The US president, 80, has ordered federal agencies to use “Super Intelligence” or “SI” instead of “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” in official communications, websites and policy documents.
The change was formalised in an executive order on 29 September after Donald promoted the term during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Explaining his objection to the existing name, Donald said: “The use of the word artificial makes it sound fake.
“It’s not fake, it’s actually amazing. But we have to be careful... welcome to the new world of Super Intelligence.”
The rebranding has had an unexpected consequence thousands of miles from Washington – with Slovenia’s national internet domain suddenly attracting intense interest.
Slovenian websites use the .si suffix, meaning addresses ending in those letters have potentially acquired a new commercial significance if Donald’s terminology catches on.
Registry SI spokesperson Klara Herman said 44,000 .si web addresses were registered during September, compared with fewer than 2,000 in August – an increase of about 2,100 percent.
Klara described the late-September activity as “unprecedented” compared with the previous year, although she remained cautious about attributing the entire increase to Donald’s comments.
On 30 September alone, 11,000 new registrations were recorded.
The buying frenzy may partly reflect cybersquatting – the practice of acquiring potentially valuable domain names in anticipation of selling them later for a profit.
One of the best-known examples involved Rick Schwartz, nicknamed “The Domain King”, who bought men.com for $15,000 in 1997 before selling it for $1.32 million seven years later.
Trump’s campaign to replace the term AI has meanwhile moved rapidly from presidential rhetoric into official US government policy.
His executive order directs executive departments and agencies to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports and other non-statutory documents wherever legally possible.
Existing regulations, contracts and historical documents do not have to be rewritten.
The order defines SI, for now, using the existing legal definition of artificial intelligence, while requiring the president’s science and technology adviser to propose legislation establishing a federal definition within 60 days.
The change formed part of a wider series of announcements by Trump involving some of the world’s most powerful technology companies.
On Tuesday (29.09.26), he hosted executives at the White House for what he described as an “extraordinary gathering” of figures involved in building what he has repeatedly called America’s “Golden Age”.
Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang and other technology leaders attended as Trump unveiled the Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities, a voluntary framework covering the development of advanced technology.
The agreement involves companies carrying out internal monitoring and oversight, external audits and independent review.
It does not carry legal penalties for companies that fail to follow the commitments.
Trump has also taken his new terminology into international diplomacy.
During talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping the United States and China agreed to establish a dialogue covering the risks and benefits associated with the technology, with the White House referring to it as the US-China Super Intelligence Dialogue.
Trump has continued using “SI” while discussing America’s competition with China in advanced technology and has said the subject will remain part of discussions between the two countries.
His latest technology announcements also included the launch of America.gov, a new portal intended to provide a single digital point of entry for US government information and services and which the White House says will incorporate “Super Intelligence”.
