Trump's Trials - Trump administration launches $5B AI initiative aimed at advancing science

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

The Trump administration has a new $5 billion initiative dedicated to using artificial intelligence to advance science. It's part of what the administration calls a new "golden age of science." NPR's Katia Riddle reports.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR News, I'm Michelle Martin. The Trump administration is pursuing what it calls a new golden age of science. At the heart of it is a $5 billion artificial intelligence initiative. President Trump's chief science and technology,

advisor Michael Cratios introduced the plan to lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill. It's called the Genesis Mission. The Genesis mission will be the central hub for the entire federal government to revolutionize the conduct of American science with AI. Science correspondent Katie Riddle has more. Funding has been a roller coaster for scientist Farron Isix recently. Earlier this year, he received this notice about a federal grant he was trying to renew. We were told abruptly in January that that's not going to.

go forward, and that program is ending. Isaacs is a synthetic biologist and genome engineer at Yale. He wasn't alone in getting his funding canceled. The Trump administration has terminated or frozen thousands of grants that it says did not align with their priorities. But Isaacs did find a promising new opportunity for federal funding, the Genesis mission, focused on artificial intelligence. I'm fortunate because the nature of the research in my lab is one that's already actually developing. AI algorithms for the design of synthetic genomes. Those AI-designed genomes could be used to develop new medicines or improve agriculture or

industrial biotechnology. I basically viewed the Genesis mission as an opportunity to basically write a focus proposal on that. Isaac's work is one of nearly 300 research efforts that were funded under this new program. The projects use AI to accelerate research in fields ranging from biotechnology to nuclear energy. It's all part of the vision laid out by the Trump administration. Again, here's White House Science Advisor Michael Kratios. A main motivation in promoting American AI development is a belief that these tools can rapidly accelerate the progress of our scientific enterprise.

And so open new frontier for American knowledge, industry, and quality of life. In his testimony, Kratios compared to this effort to another golden age of science in the United States, the period right after World War II. A visionary advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt named Vannevere Bush called for expanding investments in science. He helped lay the groundwork for today's ongoing research enterprise in the U.S. Our moment calls for renewal of Bush's original intentions to use the best tools, organizational theories, and systems thinking at our disposal to ensure that taxpayer-supported science produces the largest returns possible for the benefit of all Americans. But some historians see key differences between this narrow new initiative and the first expansive golden age of science envisioned by Roosevelt and Bush.

Patrick McCrae is a historian of science at University of California, Santa Barbara. I was looking over like the two letters that Roosevelt sent and the one that Trump sent. He compared the correspondence between the two presidents and their science advisors then and now. There's not a whole lot about explicitly, we want to have war against disease like FDR said. we want to increase life expectancy. Toward the end of World War II, says McCray, America was in a generous mood. The post-war vision emphasized using science to improve health and well-being at home and abroad. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy did not respond to request for comment on this story,

but McCrae says the language the administration uses in today's initiative puts much more emphasis on getting ahead. It's fundamentally economic. It's economic competitiveness. McCrae says the research that the Genesis mission is funding is worthwhile. But he points out the vision leaves out large areas of the scientific enterprise, including much of the social sciences. He points out that artificial intelligence is referenced more than 100 times in the administration's golden age report. You know what word doesn't appear in that whole entire report? Climate. Not a single mention. McCray says golden age of science isn't the right term for the administration's effort.

he calls it more a golden age of profit. Katie O'R. Riddell in PR News. A note before we go, if you value this show and want to help keep it going, a free and totally easy way to support us is to rate and review Trump's terms on the platform where you listen in a world of algorithms that goes a long way toward helping us reach new listeners. If you have left a review in the past, thank you so much. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms.

from NPR.