The Trump Adminisration today issued an executive order launching the Genesis Mission, described as a Department of Energy-led effort to “transform American science and innovation through the power of artificial intelligence (AI), strengthening the nation’s technological leadership and global competitiveness.”
The effort builds on the Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) strategy, a national network of scientific supercomputing resources first put forward by DOE in 2020 and advanced by the Biden Administration. Now, with the Trump Administration carrying the idea forward, the Genesis Mission is a rare instance not only of Trump-Biden-Trump policy continuity but also of bipartisan agreement in Washington for the critical role of leadership-class computing to U.S. national security and global economic competitiveness.
Precisely how the Genesis Mission will play out, how it differs, possibly, in detail from the IRI, and its other impacts on federally funded scientific computing are all yet to be seen. But it’s clear that advanced HPC-AI-quantum technology is recognized across both sides of the political aisle as a geopolitical player.
DOE said the initative is intended to harness AI and advanced computing to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade addressing such areas as energy, scientific discovery and national security.
Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil has been tapped to lead the initiative. The 17 U.S. national labs, industry and academia will collaborate to build an integrated discovery platform that will connect supercomputers, AI and quantum systems with advanced scientific instruments. DOE said once complete, “the platform will be the world’s most complex and powerful scientific instrument ever built. It will draw on the expertise of roughly 40,000 DOE scientists, engineers, and technical staff, alongside private sector innovators, to ensure that the United States leads and builds the technologies that will define the future.”
The Genesis Mission web site includes a list of platform collaborators, including Google, Anthropic, NVIDIA, AWS, AMD, Microsoft, IBM and OpenAI. In addition, fabric company Cornelis Networks said it has been selected to support the initiative. Notable for its absence is Intel, given that the Trump Administration has taken a multi-billion dolar 10 percent stake in the company, but Intel’s participation may emerge at a later time.
DOE said the announcement is intended to build on President Trump’s EO Removing Barriers to American Leadership In Artificial Intelligence and advances his America’s AI Action Plan released earlier this year—a directive intended to remove barriers to innovation and “reduce dependence on foreign adversaries” — i.e., China.
The Genesis Mission (here’s the executive order) will address three major challenges:
- Energy: The Genesis Mission will accelerate advanced nuclear, fusion and grid modernization using AI intended to provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy for Americans.
- Science: Through DOE’s investment and collaboration with industry, the initiative will work on building the quantum ecosystem.
- National security: DOE will create AI technologies for national security missions, deploy systems to address the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, and accelerate the development of defense-ready materials.
“We are linking the nation’s most advanced facilities, data, and computing into one closed-loop system to create a scientific instrument for the ages,” said Under Secretary Gil, “an engine for discovery that doubles R&D productivity and solves challenges once thought impossible.”
“Throughout history, from the Manhattan Project to the Apollo mission, our nation’s brightest minds and industries have answered the call when their nation needed them,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Today, the United States is calling on them once again. Under President Trump’s leadership, the Genesis Mission will unleash the full power of our National Laboratories, supercomputers, and data resources to ensure that America is the global leader in artificial intelligence and to usher in a new golden era of American discovery.”
