What happened
Elon Musk said on Sunday, October 4, 2026, on the social network X that SpaceX's artificial intelligence unit, SpaceXAI, would be renamed SpaceXSI. The decision followed US President Donald Trump's initiative to use the term "super intelligence" (SI) instead of "artificial intelligence" — the sense in which both Musk and Trump are using it. Reuters reported.
The announcement came as a brief exchange on X. Early Sunday morning, Musk first wrote: "No more AI. SI. It's better." A user then asked whether SpaceXAI could be renamed SpaceXSI — and Musk replied with a single sentence:
"Yes, we will make that change," — Elon Musk, as quoted by Reuters.
As of Reuters' publication, SpaceXAI's official X page had not yet been renamed. Musk gave no timeline, and SpaceXAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For now, there is no official sign of the rename: the new name exists only in Musk's posts on X.
The timing is also notable: five days after Trump's September 29 directive, early on October 4, Musk first posted "No more AI" and then responded positively to the user's question. According to Reuters, this sequence unfolded amid Trump's campaign to promote the term "super intelligence."
Trump's "super intelligence" push
The rename follows a series of moves by Trump on terminology. Last month, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said official documents should use "super" instead of "artificial":
"From this point forward, all of United States documents, and hopefully the world's will be changed to use the much more accurate term 'super' as opposed to artificial. So it's super intelligence." — Donald Trump, UN General Assembly.
On September 29, Trump then signed a directive ordering federal agencies to use the term "Super Intelligence" (SI) in official correspondence instead of "artificial intelligence." Barron's notes that Musk's early-Sunday post and his follow-up reply came just days after the directive.
Musk's decision aligns directly with Trump's terminology policy: with the post "No more AI. SI. It's better." the entrepreneur openly signaled support for the new term. In his UN speech, Trump called "super" a "much more accurate" term. This is the latest example of how the political climate around the term "super intelligence" is affecting business. Aishunos previously covered the Trump administration's SI-related appointments (site archive).
A second rename in under three months
The SpaceXAI name has a short history. Early this year, after SpaceX acquired the AI lab xAI — founded by Musk — it renamed it SpaceXAI in July, five months after the deal closed. So the unit received its current name only a few months ago and is now preparing to change it again: SpaceXAI → SpaceXSI.
A second rename in under three months points to rapid shifts in the company's branding. Yet no official step in the process has been observed so far: the X page name is unchanged, and no additional documents or statements about the new name have been published.
Musk himself founded the xAI lab — the asset SpaceX acquired early this year was originally his own project. Five months after the deal, in July, xAI was renamed SpaceXAI. That a second rebrand was announced before three months had passed makes this decision stand out this time for its link not so much to internal brand strategy as to the external political context — Trump's "super intelligence" initiative. The pace is also notable from a brand-identity standpoint: the SpaceXAI name was introduced in July, meaning it had not even lived three months when the new rebrand was announced.
Media confirmation
Several outlets confirmed Musk's announcement. The Economic Times noted that the renaming plan was announced a few days after Trump's September 29 directive and that xAI had been renamed SpaceXAI in July. Barron's, in its Sunday live coverage, also quoted Musk's "Yes, we will make that change" reply and tied it to Trump's terminology push.
The Economic Times article emphasizes that this rename would be the second change since the July rebrand. All sources agree on one thing: no timeline was announced, SpaceXAI declined to comment, and the new name currently exists only in Musk's posts on X. When the rename will officially take effect remains the main unanswered question.
