The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has embarked on an ambitious national effort to harness artificial intelligence (AI) across its 17 national laboratories with the launch of the “Genesis Mission.” This initiative, established by an executive order signed by President Trump on Nov. 24, 2025, aims to accelerate scientific discovery, bolster national security, secure energy dominance, enhance workforce productivity, and maximize returns on taxpayer investment in research and development.
Less than a month after the executive order, the DOE announced collaboration agreements with 24 organizations, including major technology companies, AI developers, and research organizations. The mission’s central ambition is to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade, a goal DOE leadership compares to historic undertakings like the Manhattan Project and the Apollo mission.
At the heart of the Genesis Mission is the American Science and Security Platform, an integrated infrastructure designed to connect the DOE’s national laboratories, supercomputing resources, AI systems, and scientific instruments. This platform, described as potentially “the world’s most complex and powerful scientific instrument ever built,” will draw on approximately 40,000 DOE scientists, engineers, and technical staff, alongside private sector partners. It will provide high-performance computing resources, AI modeling and analysis frameworks, domain-specific foundation models, secure access to federal scientific datasets, and tools for AI-augmented experimentation and manufacturing.
The Genesis Mission targets three broad challenge areas: American Energy Dominance, Advancing Discovery Science, and Ensuring National Security. In the realm of energy, the initiative will apply AI to accelerate the development of advanced nuclear power, fusion energy, and grid modernization technologies. For discovery science, the mission aims to build a “quantum ecosystem” that will power discoveries and industries for decades to come. In national security, the DOE will develop advanced AI technologies for defense applications and ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
The DOE emphasized that products developed for the Genesis Mission will be “architecture-agnostic,” avoiding lock-in to any single technology provider’s ecosystem. Dr. Darío Gil, DOE Under Secretary for Science and director of the Genesis Mission, highlighted that the platform would “uplift the entire U.S. R&D ecosystem.” Gil’s experience, including his previous role as senior vice president and director of research with IBM, brings relevant expertise to the role.
Early collaborations under the Genesis Mission are already demonstrating potential. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a collaboration in July 2025 focused on accelerating the development of advanced nuclear energy using AI, cloud infrastructure, and digital twin technology. INL has developed an initial prototype of an “AI-Powered Nuclear Reactor Design & Analysis Platform,” integrating specialized AI agents to assist engineers with complex nuclear engineering tasks, digital twin generation, and advanced simulation capabilities.
The executive order establishes an aggressive timeline for the Genesis Mission, with key milestones including the identification of science and technology challenges, federal computing resources, initial data and model assets, and the demonstration of initial operating capability for at least one challenge within 270 days. The order also mandates annual reporting to the President beginning one year after the order’s signing.
The Genesis Mission builds on earlier Trump administration actions on AI policy, including executive orders aimed at removing barriers to American leadership in AI and outlining America’s AI Action Plan. Officials have framed the initiative as essential to maintaining U.S. competitiveness against global rivals in the race for AI-driven technological leadership.
As the DOE continues to solicit industry interest through open requests for information, the Genesis Mission is poised to shape the development of the energy sector by accelerating innovation, enhancing productivity, and ensuring national security. The initiative’s success will depend on the effective collaboration between the DOE, its national laboratories, and private sector partners, as well as the ability to navigate the complex landscape of AI integration in scientific research and development.