Microsoft, Google Among 24 Firms Joining US AI ‘Genesis Mission’

Two dozen top artificial intelligence companies have signed on to join the federal government’s “Genesis Mission,” an effort by the Trump administration to boost the use of the emerging technology for scientific discovery and energy projects.

OpenAI, Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp., Amazon Web Services and Alphabet Inc.’s Google were among the firms that have either already signed memorandums of understanding with the government, have existing projects with the Energy Department or national laboratories, or have expressed interest in joining the effort, according to a White House statement.

“Harnessing cutting-edge AI for science will dramatically increase the productivity of American scientists and researchers,” said Michael Kratsios, who leads the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. “The Genesis Mission will help America’s scientists automate experiment design, accelerate simulations, and generate predictive models that will lead to breakthroughs in energy, manufacturing, drug discovery, and beyond.”

President Donald Trump announced the effort in an executive order last month, aiming to better coordinate research done by agencies across the government and more effectively integrate AI tools to achieve more scientific breakthroughs. 

The mission will harness the computing resources of the Energy Department’s national labs to tap federal datasets and enable more experiments utilizing AI, Kratsios said at the time. He predicted the effort would help shorten the timeline for scientific discoveries.

Still, officials have recognised that the massive computing resources needed for AI’s development rely on energy-hungry data centres, and have sought to spur efforts to find new sources and improve the power grid. 

The president has prioritised fostering the AI industry during his return to office, announcing policies intended to ease the build-out of AI facilities and the development of the technology. At the same time, the president has moved to curb state-level rules that he argues would burden companies. AI critics say state-based rules are needed to address immediate issues such as biased content, deepfakes and safety risks to users because the federal government has been slow to create regulations.