President Donald Trump reportedly signed a sweeping executive order Monday establishing a “national effort” to accelerate artificial intelligence development, signaling one of the most ambitious research initiatives in American history as the U.S. races to stay ahead of China in the global AI competition.
The project, called the Genesis Mission, will unite federal agencies, national laboratories, private industry, and academia in a coordinated push to integrate AI into scientific research, energy development, and national security. The White House says it will be one of the largest research and development undertakings the nation has ever attempted.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright compared the administration’s AI initiative to the Manhattan Project and the Apollo Program — two defining moments in American scientific and military achievement.
“In this pivotal moment, the challenges we face require a historic national effort,” the order states, “comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project that was instrumental to our victory in World War II.”
The Genesis Mission aims to develop advanced AI models trained on vast federal datasets to create “scientific foundation models” and AI-driven research tools. These AI systems will be capable of generating hypotheses, running experiments, and automating complex workflows — massively accelerating the pace of scientific discovery.
Researchers at all 17 U.S. national laboratories — some of the country’s most sensitive and sophisticated research sites — will partner with universities and private-sector innovators to build and refine these AI systems.
According to the executive order, the mission will:
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“Dramatically accelerate scientific discovery,”
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“Strengthen national security,”
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“Secure energy dominance,”
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“Enhance workforce productivity,” and
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“Multiply the return on taxpayer investment into research and development.”
In short, it is designed to cement America’s technological dominance for decades to come.
The Department of Energy (DOE), which houses the nation’s top supercomputers and some of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world, will serve as the central driver of the effort. A White House fact sheet states the order directs DOE to build a “closed-loop AI experimentation platform” — integrating supercomputers, robotics, and unique national lab data assets to generate cutting-edge AI models and operate robotic laboratories capable of running experiments autonomously.
The administration has repeatedly emphasized that the United States cannot afford to fall behind China, which has poured billions of dollars into state-backed AI development and is aggressively pursuing global dominance in the sector. Trump officials have said America must mobilize its scientific and economic power to ensure its leadership in the next era of technological competition.
With the Genesis Mission, the Trump administration is framing AI not as a niche tech issue, but as a national security imperative — and launching a project on a scale designed to rival the greatest scientific mobilizations in American history.
