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The Trump administration has announced a $5bn initiative to apply artificial intelligence to longstanding scientific challenges, involving 15 federal agencies, according to a statement released on Wednesday. The effort, part of a broader plan to overhaul federal research funding, will focus on areas such as chronic disease research, drug discovery, and the development of longer-lasting building materials.

The announcement follows a White House report released Tuesday night, authored by Michael Kratsios, the chief technology adviser to President Donald Trump, which outlines a shift in how the US government funds research. The report, titled "Science: A New Golden Age," proposes moving federal R&D dollars away from universities and "legacy institutions" toward individual scientists and AI-focused projects.

Coverage comparison

The Guardian reported the initiative's details, including the $5bn figure, the list of participating agencies, and Microsoft's $40m donation of AI computing credits over three years. It also highlighted the political tensions around the funding overhaul, noting that federal courts have pushed back against the administration's efforts to cut NIH grant funding to universities.

The South China Morning Post focused on the competitive framing, emphasizing the administration's argument that the changes are needed to counter China's rise in research and development. The report warns that China has reached parity with the US in R&D spending over the past two decades, a situation the US "did not face even during the Cold War." The Post's coverage highlighted the report's language about China's "all-of-society approach" and its surge of resources toward basic science, as well as the US plan to reconfigure its annual federal R&D budget of around $200bn.

Key claims

  • The US will spend $5bn on AI for science, as reported by The Guardian, citing a White House statement.
  • Fifteen federal agencies will participate, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Defense, and Interior, according to The Guardian.
  • Microsoft will donate $40m in AI computing credits over three years to support the effort, as reported by The Guardian.
  • The Trump administration plans to overhaul federal research funding to support more individual scientists and AI, rather than universities, according to a White House report covered by both The Guardian and the South China Morning Post.
  • China has reached parity with the US in R&D spending, a claim made in the White House report and reported by the South China Morning Post.
  • The US plans to redirect its federal R&D budget away from colleges and legacy institutions, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Scientists will have access to the Department of Energy's supercomputers, AI, and specialized datasets, along with other components needed to run experiments using algorithms, Kratsios said in an interview with Reuters, as reported by The Guardian. "The White House is helping bring together all of the different agencies that work on different domains to make them part of this larger effort on AI for science," he said.

The White House report argues that "federal support for science must be politically accountable," according to The Guardian. The report also states that the US government holds some of the largest datasets in the world, including records on chemicals, critical minerals, and patient health, which could be used to train AI models.

One of the flagship projects under the new initiative is the Genesis Mission, an AI for Science initiative introduced by Trump in late 2025, which aims to double the productivity of US foundational research through AI, as noted by the South China Morning Post.

The announcement comes as the administration has sought to exert more control over how federal research dollars are allocated during Trump's second term. Federal courts have pushed back, with an appeals panel ruling in January that the Trump administration cannot cut federal grant funding provided by the National Institutes of Health to universities engaged in scientific and medical research, according to The Guardian.