Census Bureau renames AI survey question to 'Super Intelligence' under Executive Order 14434
Overview
The U.S. Census Bureau changed the AI question in its Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) to ask about "Super Intelligence or SI" on October 19, 2026, following Executive Order 14434.
The survey's new question reads: "In the last two weeks, did this business use Super Intelligence or SI (formerly referred to as Artificial Intelligence or AI) in any of its business functions?"
The October 22, 2026 data still reflects the earlier Artificial Intelligence wording, with businesses with 250+ employees answering yes about 40% of the time, up from roughly 12% in September 2025, according to Simon Willison's report. Willison says the wording change could affect future results, since businesses last answered the question under the AI name twelve weeks earlier. The Census Bureau's first results under the new wording were due for publication the following Thursday.
Written by AI from the articles below · updated Nov 2, 8:57 AM ET
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- Simon WillisonBlogU.S. Census Bureau changes AI survey wording to "Super Intelligence" under executive order
AIThe U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey changed its AI question to "Super Intelligence or SI" on October 19, 2026, following Executive Order 14434. The October 22, 2026 data still reflects the earlier AI wording, with the largest companies (250+ employees) answering yes about 40% of the time, up from roughly 12% in September 2025. The author says the wording change could affect future results, since businesses last saw the question twelve weeks earlier under the AI name.
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