Elon Musk says SpaceX will rename its artificial intelligence division from SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI, adopting the term “super intelligence” after US President Donald Trump publicly pushed for it to replace “artificial intelligence”.
Musk confirmed the planned change on October 4 in a reply to a user on X.
Asked whether SpaceXAI would be renamed SpaceXSI, Musk responded: “Yes, we will make that change.”
He did not announce when the new name would take effect or provide any broader explanation of the move.
At the time Reuters reported the announcement, SpaceXAI’s account on X had not yet been renamed.
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‘SI’ Stands for Super Intelligence
The change follows Trump’s recent effort to replace the term “artificial intelligence” with “super intelligence”.
During a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Trump said US government documents should begin using “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” and expressed hope that the terminology would spread more widely.
Musk has publicly supported that terminology.
The planned SpaceXSI name therefore appears to replace the “AI” in SpaceXAI with “SI”, referring to super intelligence.
There is no indication in Musk’s announcement that the rename reflects the creation of a separate new technology or a newly disclosed technical capability.
SpaceXAI Itself Is a Relatively New Name
The proposed rebranding comes only months after Musk folded his former standalone AI company xAI into SpaceX.
SpaceX acquired xAI earlier in 2026, bringing Grok, its AI infrastructure and the social network X into the wider SpaceX corporate structure.
Musk later said xAI would cease to exist as a separate company and that the artificial intelligence products would operate under the SpaceXAI name.
By July, the former xAI brand had formally changed to SpaceXAI, including a new logo and social-media identity.
SpaceXSI would therefore represent another branding shift only a few months later.
This Is Not a New Merger
The distinction is important.
Musk’s October 4 statement does not announce another acquisition, merger or restructuring.
SpaceXAI already exists inside SpaceX as its AI division.
The available announcement concerns the name of that division.
The broader corporate integration happened earlier this year when xAI was folded into SpaceX. US Securities and Exchange Commission correspondence from May also referred to Musk’s statement that xAI would be dissolved as a separate company and its products would become part of SpaceXAI.
That existing structure remains the relevant background unless SpaceX discloses further corporate changes.
Grok and SpaceX’s AI Operations Sit Under the Division
SpaceXAI develops the Grok family of AI models and operates major computing infrastructure, including its Colossus facilities.
Its own website describes the division’s mission as accelerating scientific discovery and building frontier reasoning, voice and generative-media systems.
The unit has also been expanding into enterprise AI.
In July, Reuters reported that SpaceXAI and Cursor were preparing to launch a jointly developed model as Musk pushed further into AI coding and enterprise tools.
The planned change to SpaceXSI therefore comes at a time when AI has become increasingly integrated into SpaceX’s wider technology strategy.
Trump Is Also Rebranding Federal AI Policy Around ‘Super Intelligence’
The terminology shift goes beyond Musk.
Trump has begun using “super intelligence” as the preferred term in his administration’s AI policy.
On October 3, he named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead a new “Super Intelligence Force”, which is expected to coordinate federal work around advanced AI and produce a policy report within 120 days.
The administration has simultaneously favoured relatively light regulation and voluntary industry safeguards while arguing that the United States must maintain its technological lead over China.
Musk’s decision to adopt “SI” places SpaceX’s AI division directly within that emerging political terminology.
‘Super Intelligence’ Does Not Have One Settled Meaning
The phrase “super intelligence” is not simply another universally accepted technical name for today’s AI systems.
In AI research, superintelligence has traditionally referred to a hypothetical system whose cognitive capabilities substantially exceed those of humans across many or most domains.
Current AI products, including large language models and autonomous agents, are generally still described as artificial intelligence.
Trump’s use of the phrase is therefore partly a political and branding choice rather than an established industry-wide technical reclassification.
Musk’s planned SpaceXSI name does not by itself establish that the company has achieved artificial superintelligence.
No Timeline Yet for Rebrand
Musk provided no implementation date.
SpaceXAI also did not immediately respond to Reuters for further information about the proposed name change.
It remains unclear when company websites, social-media accounts, products or regulatory filings will begin using SpaceXSI.
Until that happens, SpaceXAI remains the current public-facing name of the division.
What this means for you
The SpaceXSI announcement is mainly a branding and terminology change for now, not evidence that SpaceX has unveiled a new form of “superintelligent” AI. The more important development is how quickly the term “super intelligence” is moving from political rhetoric into government and major technology-company branding.
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