The Trump administration unveiled a sweeping $5 billion initiative on Wednesday — called the Genesis Mission — that will deploy artificial intelligence across 15 federal agencies to accelerate scientific discovery, marking one of the largest federal AI investments in history.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios described the initiative as a "national mission" to double the productivity of American research through AI. Fifteen agencies — including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Defense, and Interior — will receive funding to tackle longstanding scientific challenges.
Key targets include: identifying root causes of chronic diseases, accelerating drug discovery, developing longer-lasting building materials, and using AI to analyze vast government datasets on chemicals, critical minerals, and patient health.
Scientists will gain access to the Department of Energy's supercomputers, specialized datasets, and AI tools to run algorithm-driven experiments.
A new era for American science
The announcement was accompanied by a landmark report titled "Science: A New Golden Age" — the first comprehensive rethinking of U.S. R&D since Vannevar Bush's 1945 blueprint *"Science: The Endless Frontier."* The report recommends refocusing federal support on individual scientists over legacy institutions, creating agile 'X-Lab' research organizations, and transitioning toward AI-native scientific institutions.
"Federal support for science must be politically accountable," the report states, signaling a shift toward outcome-driven research funding.
Microsoft joins the mission
Microsoft committed $40 million in AI computing credits over three years to support the Genesis Mission, joining a broader coalition of 24 organizations already partnered with the Department of Energy on the effort.
The Genesis Mission sits alongside other national technology priorities named in the report, including a quantum computer for advanced development (QC-ADDS), commercial fusion power demonstration by the mid-2030s, and crewed lunar return and base development.
A contested vision
The administration's push to steer more research funding away from universities and toward individual scientists and AI has already faced legal challenges. Federal courts pushed back in January against cuts to NIH grant funding to universities.
Still, Kratsios framed the initiative as essential. "The White House is helping bring together all of the different agencies that work on different domains to make them part of this larger effort on AI for science," he said in an interview with Reuters.
Federal agencies now have 90 days to submit action plans implementing the new priorities.
