White House to consolidate data and research under AI-driven Genesis Mission
One of the executive orders issued by President Trump in November —“Launching the Genesis Mission”—focuses on a national effort to accelerate the use of AI in scientific research. The Genesis Mission EO preceded a reorganization of the Department of Energy and further tightens links between science and security under the administration’s quest for “global technology dominance in the development of artificial intelligence.”
Before AI-powered modeling and automation tools can impact science and research, they need data. In the Genesis Mission EO, Trump directs the DOE to compile data—including open data, data derived from federally funded research, and proprietary data—into an AI platform that the DOE says “will be the world’s most complex and powerful scientific instrument ever built.”
The premise: According to the EO, the United States is facing challenges “comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project that was instrumental to our victory in World War II and was a critical basis for the foundation of the [DOE] and its national laboratories.”
The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform called the American Science and Security Platform to collect “federal scientific datasets” and the tools needed to train models and create AI agents to “test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.”
The platform will include high-performance computing resources at national laboratories and “secure cloud-based AI computing environments.” It will be subject to classification, supply chain security, and federal cybersecurity standards and best practices to meet security requirements “consistent with its national security and competitiveness mission.”
The mission will combine “the efforts of brilliant American scientists, including those at our national laboratories, with pioneering American businesses; world-renowned universities; and existing research infrastructure, data repositories, production plants, and national security sites—to achieve dramatic acceleration in AI development and utilization.”
Who’s in charge: The EO defines a management structure that will see political appointees make decisions about the platform and research goals.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is charged with setting priorities and “ensuring that all DOE resources used for elements of the mission are integrated into a secure, unified platform,” and “may designate a senior political appointee to oversee day-to-day operations of the mission.” Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil will lead the initiative for the DOE and will “mobilize the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories, industry, and academia to build an integrated discovery platform.”
While Gil will lead the initiative within the DOE, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will provide oversight of the Genesis Mission and the research conducted under it. As outlined in the EO, the assistant to the president for science and technology (APST)—that is, the director of the OSTP, a position currently held by Michael Kratsios—“shall provide general leadership of the Mission, including coordination of participating executive departments and agencies (agencies) through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the issuance of guidance to ensure that the Mission is aligned with national objectives.”
According to Secretary Wright, “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.”
Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the Genesis Mission will “embody the very best of American ingenuity, turning science and innovation into security.”
Near-term plans: The EO starts a clock on several specific tasks, including the following:
Within 60 days—The DOE is to send Kratsios a “detailed list of at least 20 science and technology challenges of national importance” that could be addressed by the Genesis Mission and “that span priority domains consistent with National Science and Technology Memorandum 2 of September 23, 2025,” including advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear fission and fusion energy, quantum information science, and semiconductors and microelectronics.
Within 90 days (strictly speaking, within 30 days of the DOE’s submittal of a list to the OSTP’s Kratsios)—Kratsios is to review the proposed list and, working with participating agency members of the NSTC, “coordinate the development of an expanded list that can serve as the initial set of national science and technology challenges to be addressed by the Mission, including additional challenges proposed by participating agencies through the NSTC, subject to available appropriations.”
Within 120 days—The DOE is to develop a plan for incorporating datasets from federally funded research, other agencies, academic institutions, and private-sector partners.
Within 240 days—The DOE is to review capabilities for “robotic laboratories and production facilities with the ability to engage in AI-directed experimentation and manufacturing, including automated and AI-augmented workflows and the related technical and operational standards needed.”
Within 270 days—The DOE is to demonstrate an initial operating capability of the Platform for at least one of the national science and technology challenges identified.
DOE doubles down: According to the DOE’s November 24 press release, three key challenges will be a focus of the mission: American energy dominance, advancing discovery science, and ensuring national security.
While the Genesis Mission EO says the mission will “dramatically accelerate scientific discovery” and “enhance workforce productivity,” the DOE gets more specific, saying the Genesis Mission will “double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade.”
Gil, as under secretary for science and Genesis Mission director, said, “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, an engine for discovery that doubles R&D productivity and solves challenges once thought impossible.”
To date: In 2025, the White House has released EOs on “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” (January) and on “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure” (July). Also in July the White House released “America’s AI Action Plan.”
