The U.S. Census Bureau and “Super Intelligence”

The author revisits the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) AI adoption data, noting that a November 17, 2025 wording change from "producing goods or services" to "any of its business functions" makes responses before and after that date not directly comparable, with large companies' "yes" answers rising from about 12% in September 2025 to about 40% by October 2026. Beginning with the October 19, 2026 collection, the survey question was changed again due to Executive Order 14434, now asking about "Super Intelligence or SI (formerly referred to as Artificial Intelligence or AI)," with the first results under the new wording due for publication on Thursday.