Energy Department Announces 26 Genesis Mission Science and Technology Challenges to Accelerate AI-Enabled American Innovation and Leadership

February 13, 2026

Genesis mission logo

Editor’s Note: The following news release was issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is excited to advance the goals of the “Genesis Mission,” a flagship initiative announced by DOE to double the productivity and impact of American research and innovation within a decade. This effort will harness the power of AI and the capabilities and expertise at national laboratories — including Brookhaven — to establish the U.S. as the global leader in AI-enabled science and security. Brookhaven researchers and industry partners will take on key roles in tackling Genesis Mission science and technology challenges related to manufacturing advanced microelectronics, operating and securing the electric grid, and exploring connections between the smallest building blocks of matter and the largest structures in the universe, among other efforts. Brookhaven will provide critical contributions through its DOE Office of Science user facilities, including the National Synchrotron Light Source II, Center for Functional Nanomaterials, and Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.  For more information about Brookhaven’s contributions, contact Karen McNulty Walsh, kmcnulty@bnl.gov, (631) 344-8350.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced 26 science and technology challenges of national importance to advance the Genesis Mission and accelerate innovation and discovery through artificial intelligence (AI).

Building on President Trump’s Executive Orders Launching The Genesis Mission and Removing Barriers to American Leadership In Artificial Intelligence, the challenges span DOE’s discovery science, energy, and national security missions. Each was selected for its potential to deliver measurable benefits for the American people and to accelerate advancements through the Genesis Mission’s AI platforms, world-class facilities, and public-private partnerships.

“These challenges represent a bold step toward a future where science moves at the speed of imagination because of AI. It’s a game-changer for science, energy, and national security,” said DOE Under Secretary for Science and Genesis Mission Lead Dr. Darío Gil. “By uniting the U.S. Government’s unparalleled data resources and DOE’s experimental facilities with cutting-edge AI, we can unlock discoveries that will power the economy, secure our energy future, and keep America at the forefront of global innovation.”

“President Trump’s Genesis Mission is mobilizing America’s unmatched scientific infrastructure and AI ingenuity to double the pace of discovery. These 26 challenges are a direct call to action to America’s researchers and innovators to join the Genesis Mission and deliver science and technology breakthroughs that will benefit the American people," said Assistant to the President and Director of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios. "We look forward to expanding the list of challenges across Federal agencies to bring even greater impact to the Mission.”

Working in partnership with DOE’s National Laboratories, industry, and academia, these efforts will deliver tangible results for the American people. Examples include:

  • Scaling the Grid to Power the American Economy: Using AI to improve power grid planning, interconnection, operations, and security — enabling decisions up to 20–100 times faster and improving electricity cost and reliability by up to 10 percent.
  • Harnessing America’s Historic Nuclear Data: Digitizing eight decades of nuclear research to create a secure, searchable database to inform future energy and security decisions.
  • Enhancing Particle Accelerators for Discovery: Deploying AI to make accelerators adaptive and autonomous, accelerating breakthroughs in medicine, materials, and energy.
  • Designing Materials with Predictable Functionality: Using AI to design materials based on performance goals, shrinking development timelines from decades to months.
  • Unleashing Subsurface Strategic Energy Assets: Applying AI to model underground environments for responsible, cost-effective energy development.
  • Achieving AI-Driven Autonomous Laboratories: Automating experiments to speed discovery of new drugs, advanced materials, and next-generation energy technologies.
  • Reenvisioning Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Productivity: Bridging research and production with AI-driven systems that strengthen supply chains, improve manufacturing productivity and capability, speed the design to production loop, and create American jobs.
  • Discovering Quantum Algorithms with AI: Accelerating quantum algorithm development to unlock breakthroughs in energy, chemistry, and logistics.
  • Recentering Microelectronics in America: Advancing next-generation microelectronics to secure U.S. technological leadership, economic prosperity, and national security.

Through an integrated platform connecting the world’s leading supercomputers, experimental facilities, AI systems, and unique scientific data sets, the Genesis Mission aims to double the productivity and impact of U.S. research and development within a decade. This first set of challenges will demonstrate how AI can deliver faster discovery, stronger energy systems, and lasting leadership in science, technology, and national security.

For more details and the full list of challenges, visit here.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

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2026-22827  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom