A New Era of American Science

WASHINGTON D.C. – On Monday, November 24, 2025, United States President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order initiating the “Genesis Mission,” a sweeping national effort to harness artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery. The mission, led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), aims to “double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade,” according to a White House statement. The core of the initiative is the creation of a centralized platform, the American Science and Security Platform, which will unify the nation's vast scientific datasets with its most powerful supercomputers. This platform is designed to train advanced scientific AI models, automate research, and speed up breakthroughs in critical fields. The White House has likened the mission's ambition to the Apollo program.

Inside the 'Genesis Mission'

The directive tasks the Secretary of Energy with integrating resources from the 17 National Laboratories, academia, and private sector partners. This vast ecosystem will connect supercomputers, next-generation quantum systems, and advanced scientific instruments into what Under Secretary for Science and Mission Director, Dr. Darío Gil, called “the world's most complex and powerful scientific instrument ever built.” The platform will be powered by formidable computing infrastructure, including two new sovereign AI supercomputers, 'Lux' and 'Discovery', being built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and AMD at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The mission has a clear timeline: identify initial data and model assets within 120 days and demonstrate an initial operating capability within 270 days. Key focus areas include accelerating nuclear and fusion energy, modernizing the energy grid, and developing advanced AI for national security, such as ensuring the reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

The Global Context: A Deepening Tech Rivalry

The Genesis Mission is not happening in a vacuum. It is a decisive move in the escalating technological competition between the United States and China. Both nations view dominance in AI as critical for 21st-century economic power, national security, and global influence. While the U.S. champions a model driven by private-sector innovation, China has advanced a state-centric approach, promoting its vision through initiatives like the Digital Silk Road. This rivalry increasingly forces other nations to navigate a complex landscape of competing standards and investment models. For developing countries, this dynamic presents both risks and opportunities. The concentration of AI power could widen the digital divide, creating a world of “digital asymmetry” where a few nations control the core infrastructure. However, the competition also drives investment in regions like Africa as both superpowers seek to expand their influence.

Implications for Kenya and East Africa

While the Genesis Mission has no direct, immediate link to Kenya, its long-term implications are significant. Kenya, which launched its own National AI Strategy for 2025-2030, is actively positioning itself as a regional tech hub and must strategically navigate this global contest. The U.S. initiative underscores the critical importance of national AI strategies and investments in digital infrastructure, areas Kenya has prioritized. The breakthroughs targeted by Genesis—in energy, medicine, and materials science—could eventually offer solutions to challenges faced in East Africa. However, access to these powerful AI models and the data they generate will likely become a key geopolitical issue. There is a risk that nations without sovereign AI capabilities could become consumers of technology rather than producers, leading to a form of “digital colonisation.” This makes Kenya's efforts to foster a local AI ecosystem, build data governance frameworks, and engage with diverse global partners—including both U.S. firms like Microsoft and Chinese firms like Huawei—a critical component of its national strategy. The high-stakes race for AI dominance, now accelerated by the Genesis Mission, means that Kenya's path to becoming a leader in Africa's digital transformation will require careful diplomatic and strategic maneuvering between competing global powers.