The U.S. government plans to allocate huge sums of money to reconstruct the scientific research system. The scientific community is worried that political intervention and capitalization will squeeze basic research. The U.S. government recently announced the launch of a project to reshape the scientific research system called the Genesis Mission, and plans to allocate US$5 billion to fund hundreds of scientific research projects with artificial intelligence (AI) as the core driving force.

The U.S. government plans to allocate huge sums of money to restructure the scientific research system. The scientific community is worried that political intervention and capitalization are squeezing basic research. The U.S. government recently announced the launch of a project to reshape the scientific research system called the Genesis Mission. It plans to allocate US$5 billion to fund hundreds of scientific research projects with artificial intelligence (AI) as the core driving force. At the same time, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), submitted a strategic report titled "Science: A New Golden Era" at a congressional hearing, clearly proposing to significantly adjust the federal scientific research funding allocation mechanism, prioritize research and development needs in application fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and nuclear energy, and reduce traditional basic research budgets such as life sciences. According to the plan announced by the United States, the first batch of "Genesis Project" funds will cover areas such as drug research and development, biomedicine, energy, advanced materials, and robotics, aiming to integrate resources from U.S. national laboratories, enterprises, and academia to promote the acceleration of AI in scientific discovery. In addition, many technology giants such as Microsoft, OpenAI and Google also participated in the project to provide computing power and technical support for the project. The White House report further advocates that in the future, federal scientific research funds should be tilted more toward technology companies and individual researchers, gradually reducing direct funding to traditional research universities, and giving politically appointed officials broader veto power in the review of scientific research funding. The above-mentioned measures have aroused great concern in the American scientific and academic circles. Many researchers and experts pointed out that the United States is trying to apply the commercial operation model of venture capital and technology start-ups to the national scientific research system, excessively pursuing short-term quantifiable investment returns and research efficiency, and seriously violating the objective law that basic science requires long-term investment and the path of exploration is uncertain. Relevant scholars have warned that unilateral over-reliance on artificial intelligence and reduction of investment in basic research in universities may lead to a decline in scientific research quality and a gap in high-level scientific research talents. At the same time, using administrative means and political leanings to interfere with the allocation of scientific research funding will destroy the long-established academic research ecosystem and university R&D capabilities in the United States, and have an irreversible negative impact on the long-term development of the country's overall scientific and technological innovation. via cnBeta.COM - Chinese industry information station (author: Source: Global Market Report)