New AI Action Plan executive order for the establishment of the Genesis Mission

The Genesis Mission

The Genesis Mission will be a coordinated national effort to build an integrated AI platform (the “Platform”) for Federal scientific datasets. The Platform will be used to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents for the testing of new hypotheses, automation of research workflows, and acceleration of scientific breakthroughs. The new executive order claims “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, thereby furthering America’s technological dominance and global strategic leadership.”

Implementation by the Secretary of Energy

The Secretary of Energy will be responsible for implementing the Genesis Mission within the Department of Energy. Within 60 days of the executive order, the Secretary will identify and submit to the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (the “APST”) a list of at least 20 science and technology challenges that can be addressed through the Genesis Mission. These challenges may pertain to advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear fission and fusion energy, quantum information science, or semiconductors and microelectronics.

The executive order established certain other milestones for the Secretary to complete following the issuance of the executive order:

• 90 days – The Secretary will identify Federal computing, storage, and networking resources necessary to support the Genesis Mission.
• 120 days – The Secretary will identify initial data and model assets for use in the Genesis Mission and develop a plan for the incorporation of relevant datasets from federally funded research, other agencies, academic institutions, and private-sector partners.
• 240 days – The Secretary will review the capabilities of the Department of Energy national laboratories and other Federal research facilities for robotic laboratories and production facilities with the ability to engage in AI-directed experimentation and manufacturing.
• 270 days – The Secretary will seek to demonstrate the initial operating capability of the Platform for one of the identified national science and technology challenges.

Coordination of Other Agencies

The coordination of participating executive departments and agencies will be conducted by the Assistant to the APST. As part of its coordination efforts, the APST will assist participating agencies in aligning their AI-related programs, datasets, and research and development activities with that of the Genesis Mission and identify any relevant data sources. The APST will also launch coordinated funding opportunities or prize competitions to incentivize private-sector participation in AI-driven scientific research.

Coordination with Industry

The Secretary will also, working with the APST and the White House’s Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, establish mechanisms for agency collaboration with industry participants. Specifically, the administration is seeking to work with private companies who have domain expertise concerning advanced AI, data, and computing capabilities. The executive order then directs the Secretary, in establishing a framework for collaboration, to consider issues such as trade secret protection, IP ownership and commercialization, and cybersecurity standards. These considerations will be important in order to convince industry participants to collaborate with the government.

Looking Forward

We can expect a report from the Secretary within a year regarding the state of the Platform, including its operational status and capabilities, a status of user engagement, and the scope and outcomes of public-private partnerships. The establishment of the Genesis Mission is consistent with the Trump Administration’s pro-innovation stance regarding artificial intelligence. We have yet to see any new AI regulations at the Federal level but continue to see more regulations at the state level, such as the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act in California, which we have discussed in a separate article. We anticipate more AI-related announcements from the Trump Administration in the near future.