Trump science agenda puts AI at the center of federal research

The Trump administration introduced the first Genesis Mission grants, directing $5 billion toward hundreds of AI-driven science projects as part of a broader push to reframe federal research around AI, robotics, and nuclear energy. The program includes 278 projects reportedly selected from over 5,000 applications, spanning drug discovery, biomedical science, energy, advanced materials, and robotics.

The Energy Department said the effort will unite national laboratories, industry, and academia to pursue breakthroughs in energy, discovery science, and national security. Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI are contributing millions of dollars in compute, AI credits, and other support. Michael Kratsios, Trump’s science adviser, linked Genesis Mission to the administration’s Golden Age manifesto, which favors funding individual scientists, expanding private-sector involvement, and giving political appointees more authority over grants.

Researchers warned that the agenda imports Silicon Valley assumptions into a research system built around open-ended inquiry. Critics said the plan could politicize science, weaken universities, reduce support for overlapping life sciences fields, and overestimate AI’s ability to generate reliable discoveries without expert human oversight. Several scientists argued that the approach risks damaging the research ecosystem that supports future technological and medical breakthroughs.