Darío Gil, under-secretary for science at the US Department of Energy, is spearheading the agency’s ambitious push into artificial intelligence and quantum computing, navigating a political landscape that prioritizes these technologies while broader federal science budgets face potential reductions. Appointed in September 2024, the former IBM research director has been tasked with implementing two flagship initiatives: a mandate to deliver the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computer for scientific research by 2028, and the Department’s $600 million Genesis Mission, designed to deploy an integrated AI platform across the nation’s 17 national laboratories. The Genesis Mission aims to create a unified computational architecture capable of querying scientific instruments, supercomputers, and datasets to accelerate discovery across disciplines. The initiative has already generated significant academic engagement, drawing a record 5,000 proposals during its March funding call. The Department plans to award $293 million to a selected cohort next month, with the expectation that successful projects will leverage the new AI infrastructure to address complex research challenges in partnership with universities and industry. Gil faces the dual challenge of securing researcher buy-in while addressing concerns that AI investments are diverting resources from fundamental science. He acknowledges that skepticism is inherent to academic culture but emphasizes that the Department of Energy’s overall science budget has increased across all disciplines. Rather than reallocating funds between fields, Gil explains that Genesis financing draws from existing basic research allocations, including nuclear and high-energy physics, with the requirement that all funded projects incorporate AI-driven methodologies. He maintains that no single scientific domain is losing financial support, but rather adapting to computational advances. Beyond funding dynamics, Gil is tasked with managing the ethical and safety implications of rapidly advancing AI models. While the Trump administration has largely avoided heavy-handed regulation, recent interventions, including the temporary suspension of Anthropic’s Fable 5 model for foreign access, highlight growing security concerns. Gil advocates for a collaborative framework between industry and government, arguing that deep scientific partnership at the frontier of AI development is the most effective mechanism for mitigating risks and guiding technological progress. As the Department moves forward with its next funding announcements and quantum infrastructure milestones, Gil’s leadership will be critical in balancing innovation acceleration with academic trust and responsible AI integration across the US research enterprise.