US outlines its $5 billion Genesis Mission to boost science with AI
The White House and Department of Energy revealed details of the Genesis Mission, a $5 billion initiative involving at least 15 federal agencies to harness artificial intelligence for accelerating scientific discoveries.
Today, the White House and the Department of Energy shared details about the types of research the Genesis Mission will undertake. Created via executive order last November, the mission aims to use AI to further scientific discoveries. The Department of Energy leads the effort, but at least 15 federal agencies are now involved, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Interior, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of War, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Commerce.
More than $5 billion has been committed across these departments. Participants will work to accomplish National Science and Technology Challenges by contributing research awards, funding opportunities, specialized scientific datasets, and research facilities. The challenges cover health care (e.g., "finding the root causes of chronic disease"), energy infrastructure (e.g., "scaling the grid to power the American economy"), and national defense (e.g., "early detection and attribution of biological threats"). There are also challenges for improving US industries in microelectronics, biology, and weapons. A general "discovery" category includes space and astronomy, autonomous laboratories, quantum computing, materials creation, and modeling living systems.
Corporate partners are also participating. Microsoft has created a program office called Scientific Partnership Advancing Research & Knowledge (SPARK) to coordinate research efforts and is backing the mission with cloud computing and AI credits.
