US and Japan launch $1 billion AI for science partnership through Genesis Mission

US announces science and AI partnership with Japan

The U.S. has announced a new partnership with Japan on science and artificial intelligence. Energy Department Undersecretary for Science Darío Gil told reporters Thursday that each country would invest $500 million in the joint venture. "This is the defining moment for the next era of science," he said. "We're linking our brightest minds and the most advanced tools, both in the U.S. and in Japan and around the world, into a cohesive engine of discovery." The announcement comes as part of the administration's "Genesis Mission", which seeks to advance the use of AI for scientific research. An Energy Department press release says that the initiative has the goal of advancing breakthroughs in quantum information science, fusion energy, biotechnology and more. Gil also said that the U.S. could partner with more countries in the future.

Japan and U.S. to collaborate on AI-driven scientific development

WASHINGTON - The Japanese and U.S. governments announced a five-year plan on Thursday to jointly provide $1 billion for the development of scientific technologies using artificial intelligence (AI). It is part of a U.S. national project called Genesis Mission, and Japan is the first country to cooperate. Through the plan, the two countries aim to deepen cooperation in advanced science fields, such as quantum technologies, nuclear fusion and biotechnologies. Each government will contribute $500 million under the plan, which is intended to significantly reduce the research time by using AI and encourage joint international research and development. The plan is also aimed at helping the two nations maintain their upper hand over China in technology development. According to the U.S. Energy Department, both governments will work together on joint projects among U.S. national laboratories and Japanese institutes including Riken and the University of Tokyo to develop AI- and robotics-powered next-generation autonomous laboratories, which conduct complex experiments automatically. Genesis Mission was announced by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump last November to accelerate research in sectors including energy, biotechnologies and semiconductors by leveraging supercomputers, AI and government-held scientific data. Major U.S. technology companies, including OpenAI, the developer of generative AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, Anthropic, which has developed state-of-the-art AI model Claude Mythos, and semiconductor maker Nvidia, are members of the project. The U.S. government plans to double productivity in the science field over the next decade under Genesis Mission, seen as a national project on par with the Manhattan Project during World War II, which developed nuclear weapons, and the Apollo Program, which led to the first human landing on the moon in 1969.