U.S. plans $5 billion AI push for health, drugs, and construction research

The Trump administration said the United States will spend $5 billion to tackle long-standing scientific problems across multiple fields using AI, Reuters reported from a Wednesday statement. Agencies plan to use the funding to identify root causes of chronic diseases, accelerate drug discovery, and develop longer-lasting building materials, among other tasks, according to the statement. Fifteen federal agencies are involved, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Defense, and Interior. Michael Kratsios, chief technology adviser to President Donald Trump, told Reuters that scientists will have access to Department of Energy supercomputers, AI, specialized datasets, and other components needed to run algorithm-based experiments. He said the White House is helping bring agencies that work in different domains into a larger AI-for-science effort. A White House report released Tuesday night and authored by Kratsios said the administration also plans to overhaul how the government funds federal research by supporting more individual scientists and the use of AI, rather than universities, a shift the report framed as making federal science support more politically accountable. Reuters noted courts have pushed back on related grant fights, including an appeals panel saying in January the administration cannot cut NIH grant funding to universities engaged in scientific and medical research. Kratsios said the initiative is an opportunity to train AI models on large U.S. government datasets, including records on chemicals, critical minerals, and patient health. Microsoft will donate $40 million in AI computing credits over three years to support the effort, according to a company statement cited by Reuters.