The Trump administration has a new $5 billion initiative dedicated to using artificial intelligence to advance science. It's part of what the administration calls a new "golden age of science."
The Trump administration is pursuing what it calls a new golden age of science. At the heart of it is a $5 billion artificial intelligence initiative. President Trump's chief science and technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, introduced the plan to lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill. It's called the Genesis Mission.
MICHAEL KRATSIOS: The Genesis Mission will be the central hub for the entire federal government to revolutionize the conduct of American science with AI.
MARTIN: Science correspondent Katia Riddle has more.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: Funding has been a roller coaster for scientist Farren Isaacs recently. Earlier this year, he received this notice about a federal grant he was trying to renew.
FARREN ISAACS: We were told abruptly in January that that's not going to go forward and that program is ending.
RIDDLE: Isaacs is a synthetic biologist and genome engineer at Yale. He wasn't alone in getting his funding canceled. The Trump administration has terminated or frozen thousands of grants that it says did not align with their priorities. But Isaacs did find a promising new opportunity for federal funding – the Genesis Mission, focused on artificial intelligence.
ISAACS: I'm fortunate because the nature of the research in my lab is one that's already actually developing AI algorithms for the design of synthetic genomes.
RIDDLE: Those AI-designed genomes could be used to develop new medicines or improve agriculture or industrial biotechnology.
ISAACS: I basically viewed the Genesis Mission as an opportunity to basically write a focused proposal on that.
RIDDLE: Isaacs' work is one of nearly 300 research efforts that were funded under this new program. The projects use AI to accelerate research in fields ranging from biotechnology to nuclear energy. It's all part of the vision laid out by the Trump administration. Again, here's White House science adviser Michael Kratsios.
KRATSIOS: A main motivation in promoting American AI development is a belief that these tools can rapidly accelerate the progress of our scientific enterprise and so open a new frontier for American knowledge, industry and quality of life.
RIDDLE: In his testimony, Kratsios compared this effort to another golden age of science in the United States – the period right after World War II. A visionary adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt named Vannevar Bush called for expanding investments in science. He helped lay the groundwork for today's ongoing research enterprise in the U.S.
KRATSIOS: Our moment calls for renewal of Bush's original intentions – to use the best tools, organizational theories and systems thinking at our disposal to ensure that taxpayer-supported science produces the largest returns possible for the benefit of all Americans.
RIDDLE: But some historians see key differences between this narrow new initiative and the first, expansive golden age of science envisioned by Roosevelt and Bush. Patrick McCray is a historian of science at University of California, Santa Barbara.
