Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is helping lead the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission by advancing secure, trustworthy, and efficient AI to accelerate scientific discovery and strengthen national security.
ORNL researchers are embedding AI directly into scientific workflows to develop explainable methods that enable near-real-time insights into a range of phenomena, including quantum materials, nuclear energy, and cybersecurity. These efforts move beyond data analysis and toward automated science, in which AI systems guide experiments, modeling, and decision-making, thereby significantly reducing time to solution.
These advancements are only possible thanks to ORNL’s exascale computing resources, which are enabling more efficient approaches to training large-scale AI models while reducing energy demands. To help facilitate these advancements, researchers are developing secure-by-design architectures with built-in guardrails to protect against misuse and adversarial threats.
By advancing the Genesis Mission, ORNL is ensuring that AI remains a secure and reliable resource for scientific discovery and that the U.S. maintains its scientific and economic leadership.
Discovery, an HPE system powered by AMD processors and accelerators, will arrive in 2028 and feature impressive speed and enhanced bandwidth across the system.
ORNL’s exascale supercomputer is delivering world-leading performance.
To address emerging AI threats, ORNL has established the Center for Artificial Intelligence Security Research, or CAISER.
Join our world-leading research team to shape the future of AI in science and security
Using various tools developed by ORNL teams, researchers at the lab are adapting artificial intelligence techniques to better understand cancer and other diseases. Through a series of ongoing, interconnected research projects, they are informing health policy and improving public health outcomes.
ORNL researchers are using additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, to develop solid parts made of metal, plastic, and other materials for a wide range of applications. By incorporating AI into this process, they aim to reliably produce more durable and customizable products at a lower cost.
AI, in combination with the Frontier supercomputer and other resources at the lab, accelerates research across the broad spectrum of energy generation, distribution, storage, and security.
Cybersecurity experts are constantly collecting data, but sifting through information to pinpoint problem areas in a timely manner can be difficult. To address this challenge, alongside the emerging threats and vulnerabilities associated with artificial intelligence-based technologies, ORNL has established the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, or CAISER, as an expansion of the laboratory’s AI Initiative.
ORNL’s Frontier is more than the world's first exascale machine—it’s also smart. With computing power and architecture components optimized for AI applications, Frontier helps researchers apply machine learning and deep learning techniques to a variety of science problems to quickly obtain accurate results.
Several pathways ensure that Lab staff continue to lead the world in the application of artificial intelligence for innovation, including ORNL’s summer internship programs and the Bredesen Center Ph.D. Program in Data Science and Engineering.
ORNL works with vendors, universities, and other national laboratories to offer training opportunities across the artificial intelligence spectrum.
Lab working groups ensure researchers have the AI knowledge and tools they need to tackle complex challenges across the scientific spectrum.
