Federal agencies have committed more than $5 billion to a Department of Energy (DOE)-led initiative to use artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate scientific research, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios told lawmakers Wednesday.
Speaking during a House Science, Space, and Technology Committee hearing on July 22, Kratsios said funding will expand the Genesis Mission through new National Science and Technology Challenges.
The initiative expands the Genesis Mission beyond DOE by bringing together agencies that will contribute research funding, scientific datasets, computing resources, and facilities. Officials said the mission will use AI, advanced computing, and large-scale scientific data to accelerate research across health care, energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, and national security.
The funding commitment was announced nearly an hour before Kratsios appeared before lawmakers.
Before the hearing, Kratsios met with representatives from more than 15 participating agencies, including DOE, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NASA, the Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Transportation (DOT).
“The Genesis mission will be the central hub for the entire federal government to revolutionize the conduct of American science with AI,” he told lawmakers. “The Genesis Mission’s challenges seek to directly address some of the hardest problems in research priority areas.”
Participating agencies will use DOE’s American Science and Security Platform, which provides shared infrastructure connecting researchers with data, computing resources, and AI tools.
One health challenge will have HHS, NSF, the Environmental Protection Agency, and DOE study the root causes of chronic disease by combining health, environmental, biological, and computational data. In another health care challenge, the Department of Veterans Affairs will combine electronic health records and genomic data from the Million Veteran Program with DOE supercomputing resources to train AI models designed to identify disease and health risks earlier.
Energy and infrastructure initiatives include DOT and DOE efforts to develop digital twins and foundation models for infrastructure design, materials discovery, structural simulations, and predictive maintenance. DOE also plans to use AI and digital twins to improve grid planning and operations, while the Department of the Interior will integrate data on critical minerals, water, subsurface energy, and biological systems.
Industry-focused efforts include a DOE initiative to develop an AI-driven co-design ecosystem for semiconductor materials and manufacturing research.
The initiative also includes challenges focused on national security. The DOD – rebranded as the War Department – and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration will use AI-supported modeling, simulation, and agentic workflows to accelerate the design, testing, and certification of conventional and nuclear weapons components.