The Trump administration has unveiled a $5bn "AI for science" initiative involving 15 federal agencies, aiming to use artificial intelligence to tackle long-standing scientific challenges such as identifying the root causes of chronic diseases, speeding up drug discovery and developing more durable building materials. The scheme, announced on Wednesday, matters because it signals a significant shift in how Washington intends to harness AI and government-held data to drive scientific progress, while also reshaping the institutional landscape of federally funded research.

Participating agencies include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Defense and Interior, with scientists gaining access to the Department of Energy's supercomputers and specialised datasets. Michael Kratsios, Trump's chief technology adviser, said the effort would draw on some of the world's largest government datasets, covering areas such as chemicals, critical minerals and patient health. The administration also plans to overhaul federal research funding to favour individual scientists and AI-driven work over universities, a move critics see as increasing political control over research money; Microsoft is separately donating $40m in AI computing credits over three years to support the programme.