Big Tech Writes "SI" in Its Filings but Still Says "AI" on Its Calls: What This Earnings Season Means for .si Buyers

What CNBC found this earnings season

A month after President Trump ordered that "super intelligence" replace the term artificial intelligence within executive branch departments and agencies, CNBC looked at who'd actually followed him. The answer isn't a simple yes or no, and I think the detail matters more than the headline.

As Futurism summarised it, CNBC's analysis found that Microsoft, SpaceX, Meta, Tesla and IBM all used "Super Intelligence" or "SI" in official documents and communications this earnings season. One SpaceX filing referred to SI 85 times. Microsoft's annual report included eight mentions of "super intelligence", starting at the top of the letter to shareholders.

But when the chief executives of Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet spoke on their calls, they kept saying AI.

SI on paper, AI out loud

Microsoft is the clearest example. In the annual report letter, Satya Nadella wrote: "For Microsoft, the central question as we enter this Super Intelligence era is not just how big the opportunity becomes, but how we deliver the real-world outcomes that every country, community, and company demands and deserves."

Then on Microsoft's earnings call, Nadella said one of the company's three points of focus is "designing AI to empower people." Same company, same chief executive, two different words.

It wasn't only Microsoft. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy used "AI" well over a dozen times in his introductory remarks. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was seconds into his commentary when he said the company's "AI investments are driving increased usage and overall user growth."

BigGo Finance put it plainly: "The terminology is diverging between documents and presentations even within the same companies."

Who's switched, and how far

Some executives have gone further than others. Here's what the reports show:

• Elon Musk renamed SpaceX's AI division SpaceXSI earlier in October. On Tesla's call he said: "Some of them look very impressive, but they're not really using any kind of advanced AI or SI." Note that he still used both terms.
• Mark Zuckerberg spoke on Meta's 21 October call about the company's "goal of delivering personal superintelligence to everyone." CNBC points out that Meta was already using the term, having created Meta Superintelligence Labs last year.
• Arvind Krishna of IBM used SI alongside AI: "Technology innovation in both hybrid infrastructure and super intelligence is leading to better business performance," while also calling IBM a "software-led hybrid cloud and AI platform company."
• Lip-Bu Tan of Intel said the chip supply shortage has been "driven by the unprecedented demand for super intelligence."

And then there's Sam Altman. Futurism reports that he called Super Intelligence a "more accurate" term but shot down the idea of rebranding OpenAI as OpenSI. "I think people are going to keep calling it AI," he told Politico.

Why the split matters for a domain name

Filings and annual reports are formal documents, and they're the ones the government reads. Earnings calls are where executives talk in their own words. Domain names get typed by ordinary people, and people type what they say, not what's printed in a shareholder letter.

BigGo explains the business reason for the written switch. If federal procurement, policy documents and regulatory language are reorganised around SI, companies doing government business will have to revise their internal documents and product description systems. It also reports that some analysts think the immediate business impact will be limited, because major cloud and platform operators can keep their existing AI brands and use SI alongside them in government documents.

That's a narrower kind of adoption than the "everyone's switching" story suggests. Right now, SI looks like a compliance word. It isn't yet the word most customers use, and I don't think anyone can honestly say when, or if, it will be.

There's political timing too. CNBC notes the push comes just ahead of next week's midterm elections, with the Republican Party in jeopardy of losing control of both the House and Senate. I'm not predicting the result. But a word that lives mainly in government paperwork depends partly on who runs the government.

Names that work whichever word wins

Given this split, I'd lean towards .si names whose value doesn't rest on SI becoming everyday language. A few in my own inventory fit that test, and here's the data on each:

• aiprompts.si ($5,500): over 200,000 searches a month worldwide for the exact phrase. The .ai twin is listed at $44,500 and the .com has been held since 2018.
• aivideoeditor.si ($5,000): "AI video editor" is searched 201,000 times a month worldwide and 27,100 times in the US. The .com twin asks $149,995.
• aimarket.si ($4,500): 12,100 searches a month. The .com asks $594,888 and the .ai $47,995.
• greatmind.si ($2,000): 33,100 searches a month, and the .com asks $500,000. It doesn't contain AI or SI at all.
• futurehuman.si ($1,500): 5,400 searches a month. The .ai asks $290,000 and the .com has been held since 1999.

One honest caveat: those search numbers measure demand for the phrase, not for the .si version. Nobody types ".si" out of habit, so a .si name still has to be marketed.

Should you buy a .si name because of this?

Not because of this news on its own. This earnings season shows SI spreading through formal documents, while the people running Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet still say AI when they talk. That's a mixed signal, not a reason to rush.

I'll be plain: most .si names are speculation, and the .si aftermarket is small. If the .com of the words you want is available at a fair price, buy the .com. It's the better buy for most businesses. Don't buy a .si that copies one company's brand, either. That's a legal risk, and it isn't a sound investment.

A .si makes sense only if it passes all three of these questions:

1. Are the .com and the .ai taken or expensive? If either is affordable, that's usually the better choice.
2. Is it a generic name and not a brand? Plain words like "AI prompts" or "great mind", not someone's company name.
3. Do people search for it? Real monthly searches for the phrase show there's demand you can build on.

If a name passes all three, a .si can be a sensible, lower-cost way in. If it doesn't, you're better off waiting. You can browse the names I've got at aidomains.si.

Names from this store that pass the test

Questions

Sources

1. CNBC, 2026-10-30
2. Futurism, 2026-10-30
3. BigGo Finance, 2026-10-29

This post was researched and drafted with AI help from the sources above, then checked by me before publishing. Facts are as reported on the dates shown.