Donald Trump and his chief scientific adviser Michael Kratsios announced a sweeping new research agenda in July, branding it the "Genesis Mission". The plan, described as a modern Manhattan Project, seeks to harness Artificial Intelligence to accelerate breakthroughs in health, energy and climate.
White House science roadmap
The announcement follows the White House release of a document titled "Science: A New Golden Age". At the same time, Congress publicly rebuked Anthony Fauci, the long-standing head of the National Institutes of Health, signalling a broader clash between the administration and the established scientific establishment.
Funding individuals, not institutions
One of the core changes is a shift away from university-centric grants. Under the new model, research money will flow directly to individual investigators and to short-term "Focused Research Organisations" that tackle specific problems. The aim is to bypass the traditional bureaucracy that, critics say, has slowed high-risk, high-reward projects.
Reforming peer review and journals
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) also plans to overhaul the peer-review system. Instead of lengthy panel reviews, individual agency reviewers could fast-track unconventional proposals. In parallel, the administration is looking to reduce federal funding for commercial academic journals that have become costly gatekeepers of research.
We are capable of so much more. Our technologies permit us to manipulate time and space. They leave distance annihilated, cause things to grow, and improve productivity.
The quotation, delivered by Michael Kratsios at a technology summit, underscores the administration's belief that AI can fundamentally change how science is conducted.
The Genesis Mission: AI as a national lab platform
Central to the initiative is the creation of an "American Science and Security Platform" that will consolidate data from the nation's seventeen National Laboratories, including historic sites such as Los Alamos and Princeton Plasma Physics. By digitising and standardising decades of classified research, the platform will make the data "AI-ready" for both government and private scientists.
In practice, the plan envisions AI systems designing experiments, running simulations and even operating laboratory equipment without direct human intervention. The administration argues that this will remove the bottleneck of individual gatekeepers and speed up discovery.
Energy, nuclear power and the road ahead
To power the massive computing needs of the project, the White House set a deadline of 4 July 2026 for small modular nuclear reactors to become operational. Four firms met the target, signalling a rapid scaling of nuclear capacity to support AI-driven research.
Looking forward, the OSTP expects the Genesis Mission to reshape the entire US research ecosystem. By opening up previously classified data and streamlining funding, the administration hopes to attract private innovators and maintain a competitive edge in global science.
Critics warn that dismantling long-standing review processes could undermine scientific rigour, while supporters argue that the old system has stifled innovation for decades. The coming months will reveal whether the AI-centric approach can deliver the promised "golden age" of discovery.