The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted the term “super intelligence” and dropped “artificial intelligence” from its Fiscal Year 2027 examination priorities, which the agency published on Friday, according to its official announcement. The change mirrors the language used in President Trump’s executive order, and it comes alongside a notably narrower treatment of crypto: the asset class now appears just once in the document, inside a line about tokenization. Exam priorities lay out where the agency’s examiners plan to concentrate their reviews during the fiscal year, so the document doubles as a roadmap for registered firms preparing for routine oversight.

Where the “super intelligence” term comes from

The new terminology did not emerge out of thin air. It stems from Executive Order 14434, “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,” signed by President Trump on September 29, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on October 2. The order mandates that agencies use the terms “Super Intelligence” and “SI” rather than “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” across websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory materials, and it states that the executive branch “will not acknowledge” the older terms. Because that mandate stops at non-statutory materials, statutory references to artificial intelligence would stay on the books unless the contemplated legislation rewrites them.

The legal ramifications could prove far-reaching, even though the order changes little in the near term. According to an analysis by Arnold & Porter attorneys Alexis C. Archer and Eun Young Choi, the executive order opens a 60-day window—running until late November 2026—for the White House to draft federal legislation that would redefine the technology in federal law. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has already followed the directives of the executive order.

The SEC made the switch before now

The SEC had embraced the new language before releasing the FY 2027 report. The agency maintains a dedicated page, “Super Intelligence at the SEC,” explaining its use of the term. The page details a Super Intelligent Task Force created in August 2025, with Valerie Szczepanik appointed as the SEC’s Chief SI Officer, charged with SI innovation, adoption, and governance across the agency’s divisions.

In the new exam priorities, super intelligence appears under information security and operational resiliency. Examiners will scrutinize emerging technologies, including super intelligence, and assess how they affect market operations, compliance, fraud prevention, and investor protection.

Crypto shrinks to a single word: tokenization

The SEC is charting a different course this year. Per a report published in November last year, the agency dropped crypto from its FY 2026 exam priorities and placed greater emphasis on AI, cybersecurity, and new rules.

The FY 2027 document keeps crypto on the list, but only as a subtopic—one of the risks linked to “evolving market infrastructure,” together with Treasury clearing reforms and tokenization.

That framing stands at odds with the digital asset agenda set forth by Chairman Paul S. Atkins. In a statement released on October 1, Chairman Atkins advanced a proposal that would set custody rules for crypto assets, describing it as “another element of a comprehensive crypto asset regulatory approach.” He also cited the January 2026 tokenization taxonomy and an Innovation Exemption that would facilitate trading of tokenized NMS stock.

What the exam program still covers

Beyond technology, the FY 2027 priorities stay close to familiar ground: investment advisers’ fiduciary duties and conflicts of interest; retail protection around complex and illiquid products; private funds and private credit; broker-dealer financial responsibility and anti-money-laundering compliance; and cybersecurity.

Keith Cassidy, director of the Division of Examinations, noted that the list is subject to change during the year, as the program is designed to evolve with market trends.

One date worth watching is the late-November deadline for the White House’s proposed legal definition of “super intelligence,” which could eventually alter how statutes that reference AI apply.

This article was originally reported by Cryptopolitan.