AI and thermonuclear fusion energy were the main topics of hearings on Dec. 11 at the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee, that heard testimony from Energy Undersecretary for Science Dario Gil, who has been appointed the head of the Genesis program, a program which intends to use AI and AI “dominance” to revive the U.S. economy. The pretensions of the entire program were underlined by the attendance of the leaders of all the nation’s science labs as “back-up” for Gil, although none of them spoke. While AI can no doubt increase the productivity of research and development, the claims that are being raised seem to go beyond reality.
At one point, when asked to explain the overall purpose of the Genesis program, Gil said that AI could double productivity in scientific research, claiming that if we invest 3.5% of GDP into this program, in ten years it will appear as if we had invested 7%. Gil also claimed that this “smoke and mirrors” program would be the modern-day version of the Vannevar Bush postwar program for developing the U.S. economy. Undoubtedly, the very fact of bringing fusion under a government-led program, and the creation of a Department of Fusion Energy in the DOE, can have a positive effect on the development of the U.S. fusion program, combined with whatever advantages AI can deliver, but given the sorry state of U.S. infrastructure, not to mention of our skilled workforce, it is hard to see how they will realize these otherwise laudable intentions. Some of the Democrats took up the major cuts in science and technology that have been conducted by the Trump Administration, but there was way too much wailing over the loss due to “climate change.”