What the 'AI is now SI' rename means for domain names

On 29 September 2026 a US executive order told federal departments and agencies to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" instead of "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI". The order says nothing about domain names, but .si, Slovenia's country code, spells the new abbreviation, and new .si registrations jumped from about 4,000 a day to more than 11,000 a day the day after it was signed.

This page sets out what happened, with official and primary sources, and what the change does and does not mean for anyone choosing a domain.

What the order says

The White House fact sheet describes the order this way, in summary (White House fact sheet):

• Executive-branch departments and agencies are to use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in official correspondence, public communications, policy documents and non-statutory documents, and to stop using "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI".
• The president's science and technology adviser is to propose a federal definition of "Super Intelligence" and "SI".

The White House also published the video of a meeting and luncheon on super intelligence held the same day (White House video). We link to both as sources; we do not host or edit any footage.

Timeline

What happened to .si registrations

The registry's own charts show the scale. September 2026 brought 46,066 new .si domains, against 3,515 in August and 42,840 in the twelve months from September 2025 to August 2026 combined (Register.si). Daily registrations ran between 3,654 and 5,059 from 25 to 29 September, then rose to 11,331 and 12,728 on the two days after the order. Our registration statistics page keeps a dated record.

Netcraft, an internet security company, reported that .si registrations overtook .ai registrations within about 25 hours of the UN remark, and that after the order daily .si registrations more than doubled compared with the week between the UN remark and the order. It traced much of the post-order rise to OpusDNS, a registrar aimed at resellers that added .si support on 23 September (Netcraft).

Much of this is speculative buying. Netcraft found that just over half of the .si names it saw registered at Dynadot between the 19 September social media posts and the UN remark were listed for resale. It also found 87 .com names pairing well-known brands with the word "superintelligence", registered shortly before the order and each listed at $20,000.

How the registry has responded

Register.si has kept its prices and rules as they were and has added information instead. It now publishes daily and monthly registration charts on a page it says will be updated daily (Register.si). In its announcement that .si had passed 200,000 names, it said all of its systems were running normally despite the sharp rise in requests, and that it was watching the trend closely. The same announcement advised holders of trademarks, slogans and company names that do not yet have a .si to register one (Register.si announcement). The advice is addressed to owners of existing brands and company names.

What the rename does not change

.si is still Slovenia's domain. Register.si, which operates within ARNES, the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia, runs it under Slovenian law and its own general terms. The order does not touch any of that.

The registry price is the same. Register.si charges every registrar €10 a year before VAT, unchanged since January 2023 (tariff). The registry has said that media talk of large earnings for Slovenia from the extra demand has no real basis (Register.si announcement).

The trend did not start with the order. A registry spokesperson told Foreign Policy that registrations were already rising before the "SI" attention, which then coincided with an exceptional extra surge (Foreign Policy). The registry's monthly chart agrees: May and June 2026 were already about double a typical month (Register.si).

It covers federal usage. The fact sheet describes rules for executive-branch documents and communications. It does not describe any rule for companies or the public.

Brand rules still apply. A name that copies someone else's brand can be taken away under the .si dispute procedure if the owner proves a right recognized in Slovenia, no legitimate interest on your side, and bad faith (ARDS rules 17.3). Pairing a famous brand with "SI" does not make it safer.

What it means if you are choosing a name

• The case for .si is cost and availability, not a guarantee of meaning. A .si costs about $12 a year on one-year terms; a .ai needs a two-year minimum (.si vs .ai).
• Your audience decides the reading. In US federal usage "SI" now means super intelligence; elsewhere .si still reads as Slovenia. Test the name with the people you want to reach.
• Buy to use. Reported .si sales exist (sales data), but they are about specific names and do not predict anything for yours.

For the practical steps, see how to buy a .si and the naming checklist.

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