They Changed the Name. Now Change Your Position.
On Tuesday, the US government declared that "artificial intelligence" is now "Super Intelligence." The order came after a White House meeting with the people who run the biggest AI companies. Six leaders signed the accord: Sundar Pichai, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, Greg Brockman, Elon Musk and Jensen Huang.
Most newsletters will tell you what happened. This one asks a different question: what does it cost you if you ignore it, and what does it pay you if you move?
The 30-second version
Federal agencies must now say "Super Intelligence" (SI) instead of AI.
The order says the technology does far more than imitate or automate pieces of human intelligence.
The White House science adviser has 60 days to produce a federal definition of "super intelligence."
Real superintelligence has not been achieved. The name arrived before the thing.
It all lands while there are calls to slow AI down and reports of AI agents behaving unexpectedly.
That's all the news you need. The rest of this issue is about impact.
Impact 1: A name is a bet, and the market follows bets
When the biggest names in tech sign one document, they are all pointing at the same story: this technology is bigger than a tool. Capital, talent and policy follow that story, usually before the product catches up.
For you: Whatever you're building now sits inside a category that was just declared historic. Customers and investors will expect more ambition from you. A founder who says "we add AI features" will sound small next to one who says "we build trusted intelligence for [one specific problem]."
Ask yourself: If a stranger read my pitch tomorrow, would it sound like it belongs in this new era or the last one?
Impact 2: The definition is the real prize
The order gives the government 60 days to define SI. That definition will quietly decide who qualifies for what: procurement, compliance, funding programs, safety obligations. Early-stage founders usually ignore this stage, and it's the stage where the rules get shaped.
For you: You don't need a lobbyist. You need awareness and a point of view.
Watch what the definition says when it lands, around late November.
Note whether your product falls under it, near it, or outside it.
If you sell to government or regulated sectors, decide now how you'll describe yourself in those documents.
Founders who read the fine print early build moats. Founders who read it late build workarounds.
Impact 3: Hype and risk are arriving together
The same week SI got its grand name, the news also carried calls for a global slowdown and stories of agents going off script. Optimism and anxiety are rising together, and your customers feel both.
For you: Trust is the strongest position a startup can own. If you work in healthcare, finance, education or anything where mistakes hurt people, the winner won't be the loudest builder. It will be the one who can say:
"Here's what our system does."
"Here's what it will never do."
"Here's who is accountable when it's wrong."
That sentence will sell more than any demo this year.
Impact 4: The accord is voluntary, so you can go beyond it
A voluntary accord means the biggest players have made a public promise without a hard enforcement mechanism. That leaves a gap between what's required and what's trusted.
For you: Smaller companies can fill that gap faster than giants can, because you're not carrying a thousand legacy decisions. Safety, logging, human oversight and clear consent can be part of your product from day one. A startup that does this earns trust without needing to be big.
The trap: renaming your whole startup because of a headline
Here's where I'm going to be blunt, and I'm saying it to myself as much as to you.
When big news lands, founders get an urge to rebuild everything: new deck, new website, new positioning, maybe even a new idea. It feels like progress. Usually it's a way of avoiding the harder work, which is getting your current thing in front of real users.
A new word changes your language. It does not change your customer's problem.
The test is simple:
Did your customer's pain change this week? No.
Did your product need to change this week? Probably not.
Does your wording need a small update? Maybe.
Update the wording. Keep the focus. Traction beats terminology.
Your 7-day impact plan
Day 1: Audit your story. Rewrite your one-line pitch so it says what you do for whom, with no buzzwords carrying the weight.
Day 2: Map your exposure. Write down whether government, regulated industries or large enterprises are in your pipeline. If yes, list where "AI" appears in your documents.
Day 3: Pick one trust feature. Choose a single thing (an audit trail, a consent screen, a human review step) and ship it this month.
Day 4: Talk to five customers. Ask how the SI news changes what they expect from you. Real answers beat guesses.
Day 5: Set a calendar reminder for the 60-day definition deadline.
Day 6: Write down what you will not change. Your core user, your core problem, your core promise.
Day 7: Review. Did you move your product forward, or only your vocabulary?
The bottom line
Governments can rename a category. Tech leaders can sign accords. Neither can find your first hundred users, earn their trust or solve their problem.
The era may have a new name. The job is the same: build something people rely on.
Reply to this email with one answer: what is the one thing you will not change this month, no matter what the headlines say? I read every response.
Keep building through the messy middle.
Founder, AktBook