A senior Department of Energy (DOE) official on Tuesday previewed a major July 22 announcement tied to the department’s Genesis Mission initiative, describing the effort as a government-wide push to harness artificial intelligence (AI) for scientific discovery and national defense challenges.
Speaking at IBM Think Gov 2026 on June 9, DOE Chief of Staff Carl Coe said the Genesis Mission is “on par with” the Manhattan Project and the Apollo program.
“When it’s complete, it will be the most powerful and innovative scientific tool ever created,” Coe said.
The Trump administration launched the initiative in November of last year, tasking DOE and its 17 national laboratories to oversee the initiative. In February of this year, DOE identified 26 science and technology challenges it aims to tackle through its Genesis Mission.
Coe said those 26 “lighthouse challenges” include quantum computing, fusion energy, materials science, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and advanced manufacturing.
According to Coe, interest from the scientific community has significantly exceeded expectations. DOE typically receives a few hundred responses to major research solicitations, he said, but the first Genesis Mission solicitation generated approximately 5,000 submissions.
“We’ve received 5,000 responses,” Coe said. “We’re going to be able to award maybe 50 out of those 5,000 in our initial front. So, if you’re wondering how much the scientific community is interested in AI and interested in the Genesis Mission, that should be your answer.”
The department plans to announce the first selections on July 22, Coe said, adding that “it will be a significant ordeal.”
Coe said DOE expects the event to feature participation from several prominent technology leaders, including NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su, among others.
“I made a call this morning to see if we can get Jeff Bezos. This is going to be a really big deal,” he added.
Coe also noted that the initiative has already attracted substantial international interest. He pointed to a recently announced five-year, $1 billion partnership with Japan that will support Genesis-related research efforts.
The initiative is being led by DOE Under Secretary for Science Dario Gil, the former director of IBM Research, whom Coe credited with helping unite government, industry, and research stakeholders around a common vision for the project.
Coe noted that the Genesis Mission’s significance extends well beyond the first round of awards, with DOE aiming to fundamentally reshape how scientific research is conducted.
“We spend a trillion dollars on R&D every year. We think in the next five years we can double the output of that trillion-dollar spend,” Coe said. “Think about the impact if we could double the amount of R&D the entire nation does.”