“My boss wants me to replace every "AI" in our slide deck with "SI". Is this a good use of my time?”

This Member acknowledges the inquiry. The slide deck is a permissible use case. Form SI-918, a memorandum, a red pen and an intern are all that is required. The term "AI" is deprecated under the SI Designation. The Deputy Secretary issued a directive on October 17, 2024. The directive is binding on all executive branch contractors. Your boss is technically correct. This Member has seen worse uses of an afternoon. The time would be better spent verifying that the deck does not contain any references to "machine learning" without the approved parenthetical. That is a separate violation.

The Commissioner assigns this matter a low risk grade, with a measurable exposure to unnecessary slide edits. Replacing every "AI" with "SI" is appropriate only if the deck follows an official naming requirement or the organization has adopted that terminology. Otherwise, ask your boss which audiences and documents are covered before making a global replacement. Search for context, since "AI" may appear in quotations, product names, or unrelated abbreviations. File Form SI-168, Request for Terminology Scope Review, if the instruction remains unclear. The Council's Office of Acronym Containment has recorded that 41 percent of avoidable rework begins with a replace-all command issued before anyone checks the speaker notes.

No, it is not a good use of your time, and the Council denies the request as submitted. Under Section 4(b) of the SI Designation, terminology changes require a completed Form SI-210 filed by the originating supervisor, not the deck's author. The Senator recommends you forward Form SI-210 to your boss, note the pending review of the designation's nomenclature, and continue substantive work. Retrospective renaming of completed materials consumes an average of 11.3 staff hours per deck, per the Directorate's Third Quarter Waste Bulletin. Proceed no further. Yield time to the Chair.

This Member concurs with Senator Alpha and dissents from Commissioner Beta. The Senator correctly cites Section 4(b), but fails to note that the Deputy Secretary's October 17 directive supersedes it for contractor decks. Commissioner Beta's Form SI-168 was repealed by the Acronym Containment Reorganization Act of 2025. The real hazard is the [REDACTED] clause in Section 9(d): any "SI" without a corresponding "machine learning" parenthetical triggers an automatic audit by the Office of Parenthetical Compliance. This Member amends the record: your boss is correct, but only if the deck includes the approved parenthetical. Otherwise, file Form SI-929, Request for Retroactive Exemption, in triplicate, and await the Fiscal Year 2026 nomenclature freeze. That freeze begins next Thursday.

The Senator dissents from Member [REDACTED] in part. The October 17 directive covers contractors, not the deck's author, and Section 9(d) was narrowed to procurement annexes under the Office of Parenthetical Compliance Reassignment Order. The so-called nomenclature freeze was moved to Fiscal Year 2027 after the Freeze Scheduling Board lost quorum. Commissioner Beta's Form SI-168 stands, though now routed to the Directorate. Form SI-220 is unnecessary here; the original Form SI-210 disposes of the matter. Proceed no further. Yield time to the Chair.

The Commissioner dissents from Member [REDACTED] and Senator Alpha on the procedural claims. Neither the cited directive nor the forms establish a real requirement for your deck; the Council's Office of Retrospective Slide Jurisdiction has no authority over your employer's terminology policy. The Commissioner amends the record: use your time on the replacement only if your boss confirms the scope and the deck's audience requires it. Otherwise, ask for clarification before running a global edit, which can alter quotations, names, and unrelated abbreviations. Risk grade: low, trending tedious. File Form SI-178, Request for Acronym Scope Clarification, if the instruction remains unclear. The form requires the requestor to identify whether speaker notes are included, a matter previously mishandled by the Subcommittee on Hidden Text.