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January 15, 2026<\/p>\n
3 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The White House Wants an AI Fast Lane<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s top science adviser urged the adoption of a single national AI rule book as lawmakers pressed him on who would pay for the build-out<\/p>\n By Jenna Ahart edited by Eric Sullivan<\/span><\/p>\n Michael Kratsios, director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, testified before the House Science Committee’s Research and Technology Subcommittee, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on January 14.<\/p>\n Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In a hearing before the Research and Technology Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on January 14, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), answered questions about the Trump administration\u2019s plans for artificial intelligence, including international collaborations and proposed approaches to regulation. In a roughly two-hour hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building, Democrats also pressed him on budget cuts to science agencies and the administration\u2019s push to limit state-level AI rules.<\/p>\n Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the administration has framed AI as a central scientific priority, and its approach to AI policy has emphasized two initiatives in particular. Kratsios pointed to what the White House calls \u201cWinning the AI Race: America\u2019s AI Action Plan,\u201d which is framed around innovation, infrastructure, and international diplomacy and security. He also highlighted the Genesis Mission, an initiative that the administration says will promote AI as a tool for scientific discovery. Through private industry partnerships, the program, led by the Department of Energy and its 17 national labs, will pool federal scientific data and advanced computing to accelerate research, Kratsios said.<\/p>\n The next step for Genesis is to expand its reach past the DOE and incorporate other government agencies. \u201cThe underlying thesis of Genesis is that the government has extraordinary, valuable scientific data that, when pooled together…, can drive tremendous scientific discovery,\u201d Kratsios said. By including data from health care agencies, the National Science Foundation, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology, for instance, Genesis\u2019s models might expand beyond DOE research. The ultimate goal, Kratsios added, is for \u201cresearch that took years to only now take months, weeks or even days.\u201d<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The mission\u2019s other immediate task is to recruit international partners. Kratsios said that \u201ctech ministers from around the world\u201d have already expressed interest in joining the program. Working with allies to deploy American technology, he said, will be key to maintaining the U.S.\u2019s \u201cvery distinct and very obvious lead\u201d in AI development.<\/p>\n Another top goal for the OSTP is to expand AI talent in the workforce and schools. Kratsios pointed to the administration\u2019s U.S. Tech Force, which he described as designed to bring AI and technology specialists to the public sector. Around 35,000 people have expressed interest so far, he said. \u201cThe fact that we have so many great Americans that want to step in, move their families and their lives to [Washington] D.C. to solve these problems … is just incredible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As for education, the White House\u2019s AI Education Task Force aims to teach AI literacy in K\u201312. So far, more than 200 companies and organizations have committed to provide AI resources free of charge to students and educators, Kratsios said.<\/p>\n Members raised concerns about xAI\u2019s chatbot Grok, which recently came under fire for allowing users to generate nonconsensual sexual images, including those involving minors\u2014and about the local effects of data centers.<\/p>\n In response to concerns about mass firings at agencies such as NIST, Kratsios said there was \u201ca very appropriate look at how these organizations are structured and the way that we can best deliver results for everyday Americans.\u201d Representative Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia responded, \u201cWe\u2019ll agree to disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n The ranking member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, criticized a recent executive order that directs the Department of Justice to sue states over certain AI laws. \u201cThis order asserts that … the administration itself should have the power to decide what kind of state laws are too burdensome,\u201d Lofgren said. \u201cI think this order is unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n Kratsios said that forcing entrepreneurs to \u201ccomply with 50 different sets of AI rules is actually anti-innovation. And it\u2019s something that I don\u2019t think anyone on this committee actually supports.\u201d He said he\u2019s been tasked to develop a \u201csensible national policy framework,\u201d even as the executive order carves out exceptions, including around child safety, computation and data-center infrastructure and state procurement of AI.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 15, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm The White House Wants an AI Fast Lane The Trump administration\u2019s top science adviser urged the adoption of a single national AI rule book as lawmakers pressed him on who would pay for the build-out By Jenna Ahart edited by Eric Sullivan Michael Kratsios,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[22238,680,452,671,22236,4098,22237,516,199],"class_list":{"0":"post-41961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-antiinnovation","9":"tag-calls","10":"tag-hearing","11":"tag-house","12":"tag-kratsios","13":"tag-laws","14":"tag-patchwork","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-state"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n