Overview
- An OSTP memo, signed by senior officials, directs agencies to fund work that uses AI as a genuine instrument of discovery rather than only as a supporting tool.
- Office of Management and Budget officials have circulated a proposed rule that would give political appointees greater influence over which grants agencies approve.
- The shift would steer existing portions of roughly a $200 billion annual federal R&D budget toward AI projects and direct awards to individual researchers instead of traditional university-mediated grants.
- Large research universities could face less predictable funding because the plan emphasizes fellowships and direct researcher awards and would reduce the intermediary role and overhead payments that institutions now receive.
- If implemented over the rest of the administration it could narrow the mix of funded science, reshape hiring and lab support at universities, and prompt pushback from Congress and campus leaders who favor broad-based federal research funding.