WASHINGTON – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will pair shared artificial intelligence infrastructure with mission-focused research challenges under the Department of Energy’s Genesis initiative, according to DOE Undersecretary of Science Dario Gil.
Gil, speaking to Exchange Monitor on the sidelines of Wednesday’s Genesis Mission summit in Washington, described NNSA as a “core element” of the department-wide effort to build an AI-enabled scientific research ecosystem. He also emphasized that DOE’s semi-autonomous agency will retain responsibility for defining and executing its own national security research priorities.
Under the Genesis framework, DOE’s Office of Science and NNSA will collaborate on a common scientific platform designed to accelerate discovery across the department. That shared infrastructure will include artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, models and other research tools available to scientists and engineers.
For NNSA, however, the initiative extends beyond the common platform. Gil said the agency is developing its own portfolio of science and technology challenges aligned with its national security mission. The three nuclear security laboratories — Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories — will lead most of that work, while other DOE national laboratories, universities and external partners may contribute when appropriate, Gil said.
Gil said NNSA will make mission-specific investments in research infrastructure that are consistent with the broader Genesis initiative while collaborating with DOE on the underlying AI platform.