Trump’s $5B Genesis Mission grants prioritize AI over traditional science

The Trump administration launched the first round of its 'Genesis Mission' grants on Thursday, channeling $5 billion into 278 AI-powered science projects spanning drug discovery, biomedical research, energy, advanced materials, and robotics. Selected from over 5,000 applications, the projects are led by the Energy Department and backed by Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, which are contributing compute credits and AI support. White House officials compared the initiative's urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project.

Simultaneously, science adviser Michael Kratsios—who holds no science degree—testified before Congress promoting a 'Golden Age' manifesto that reshapes federal research funding. The document, styled as a modern successor to Vannevar Bush’s 1945 'Science, the Endless Frontier,' proposes moving money away from institutions like universities and toward individual researchers, while giving political appointees power to block grants on ideological grounds and expanding the role of private companies in directing research. Critics argue this Silicon Valley–style approach misunderstands the slow, uncertain nature of foundational science and could undermine the very system that made the U.S. a scientific superpower.