President Donald Trump’s directive to rebrand artificial intelligence as “Super Intelligence” (SI) is being linked to an unprecedented surge in registrations for Slovenian web addresses. According to Register.si, the national registry for the.si suffix, the country saw 44,000 new domain registrations in September, marking a massive increase of more than 2,100% compared to the fewer than 2,000 recorded in August.
Klara Herman, a spokesperson for Register.si, stated that the volume of activity during late September was “unprecedented” compared to the previous year. Specifically, 11,000 registrations occurred on September 30 alone. While Herman noted that the pattern stood out significantly, she remained cautious about attributing the entire surge exclusively to the president’s remarks. According to she, The scale of activity in late September was “unprecedented” compared to the previous 12 months.
The push to change the terminology began on September 11, when President Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He argued that the word “artificial” creates a false impression of the technology, claiming it is “actually amazing” rather than fake. He stated that the world must transition to the era of “super intelligence.”
Following his rhetoric, President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday during a meeting with major technology executives, describing the event as an “extraordinary gathering” of those “building America’s Golden Age.” The order mandates that all US government agencies and departments must adopt the terms “SI” and “Super Intelligence” in all official reports, websites, and correspondence, effectively prohibiting the use of the term AI.
Market analysts suggest that the sudden interest in.si domains may be driven by investors engaging in “domain speculation,” where individuals register web addresses hoping they will appreciate in value for future resale. A notable example of this practice is the 1997 sale of men.com, which was purchased by “Domain King” Rick Schwartz for $15,000 and sold seven years later for $1.32 million. Internet domains are the unique human-readable addresses people type into their web browsers to access websites – like.co.uk. For example, in 1997 Rick Schwartz, known as “The Domain King”, bought the domain name men.com for $15,000 (£11,300).
Despite the focus on the executive order, the initiative faced some public ridicule. Online observers pointed out a typographical error on the document, noting that “United States” was misspelled underneath the president’s signature.
