Trump signs executive order to accelerate AI development in US
What's the story
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to launch a federal program called the "Genesis Mission," aimed at accelerating American AI research and development. The initiative lays out plans to boost computational resources, expand access to large federal datasets, and drive practical applications in scientific fields. Officials describe the Genesis Mission as being "comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project."
Mission objectives
Genesis mission to enhance scientific discovery and national security
The executive order states that the Genesis Mission will "dramatically accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, secure energy dominance, enhance workforce productivity, and multiply the return on taxpayer investment into research and development." Michael Kratsios, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has been named the project's lead.
Platform establishment
New platform to support AI research
The order also directs Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to create a new "American Science and Security Platform." This platform will provide the infrastructure needed for the Genesis Mission. It will focus on providing researchers with the computational power and datasets they need to train AI models. The order states, "The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets, the world's largest collection of such datasets, developed over decades of Federal investments."
Partnership promotion
Executive order encourages public-private partnerships
The executive order also promotes public-private partnerships for AI development. Within 90 days, the Secretary of Energy has to identify systems and data available to support the program, including "resources available through industry partners." This move comes as the federal government looks to leverage its vast troves of federal datasets, an untapped gold mine of data by AI companies so far.
Problem-solving approach
AI to tackle critical scientific issues
With more computing resources and data access, the executive order envisions AI being applied to real-world and critical scientific problems within 270 days. These include "science and technology challenges of national importance" such as advanced manufacturing and robotics, biotechnology, nuclear fission/fusion. Keegan McBride from the Tony Blair Institute called this announcement significant as it shows a strong signal from the US about what is possible with AI.