SLAC and the Genesis Mission
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is proud to support the Genesis Mission, a Department of Energy initiative launched November 24, 2025, to secure U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. SLAC’s premier facilities produce vast and uniquely varied scientific data sets that illuminate our world from the grand scale of the cosmos to the smallest scales of the motions of electrons. This data – along with the SLAC-Stanford ecosystem's expertise in algorithm development and its world-leading domain scientists – will fuel the AI revolution in science. AI models developed at SLAC to accelerate the search for dark matter, and the effort to push them to the sensor edge, will also drive the deployment of autonomously stabilized fusion and resilient quantum computing.
AI at SLAC
At SLAC we have been building AI into how we do science for nearly a decade. Whether we are applying AI/ML enabled workflows to analyze high-volume, high-speed data in scientific experiments to drive discoveries in biology, chemistry and physics or using them to control complex systems like accelerators, we are changing how we do science by integrating artificial intelligence.
Not only have we been building AI/ML into how we do science and technology research, but we also host two of the biggest scientific data producers on earth at SLAC.
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory sends terabytes of data on every clear night from Chile to SLAC. This information is provided broadly to the global science community for the study of the cosmos and the creation of the universe.
SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source experiments have extremely high rates of data production, up to 1 terabyte per second, with future upgrades expected to produce even more. The resulting X-ray snapshots of electrons, atoms and molecules at work drive scientific discovery in materials, chemistry and biology.
Integrated Scientific and Data-intensive Computing at SLAC advances research across a wide spectrum of science domains by bringing together a unique data facility that interfaces with DOE resources, expertise in streaming data collection and processing at the edge, and AI and machine learning at an algorithmic level that is incorporated into the complex workflows the lab supports.
These core capabilities of the lab are being translated today to make impacts in energy and discovery science in key areas of the Department of Energy Mission.
Building Platforms
SLAC will build next-generation AI and data platforms that fuse world-leading X-ray, observatory, accelerator, and computing capabilities into a unified engine for scientific discovery. By turning our user facilities into AI-ready experimental ecosystems, SLAC will enable rapid, autonomous research workflows that accelerate how we do science and technology research.
What makes SLAC unique?
- With LCLS, SSRL, & Rubin Observatory, SLAC can generate data at speeds and scales required to train, validate and deploy next-generation AI algorithms.
- Tightly coupled experimental–computing pipelines leveraging edge AI, high-performance computing, and low-latency control.
Solving Problems
SLAC researchers will use AI to accelerate breakthroughs in energy materials, fusion energy, chemistry and the physics of the universe – using multimodal datasets available nowhere else in the world.
By combining real-time experiments with AI-driven prediction and control, SLAC will accelerate breakthroughs that traditionally take decades.
SLAC differentiators:
- SLAC has decades of experience decoding the behavior of challenging systems at the smallest and larges scales of our universe, the domains where AI can have the most transformative impact.
- SLAC’s culture of open access, broad user engagement, and large community networks makes its AI platforms inherently scalable.
Forming Partnerships
SLAC will lead a new generation of AI-driven public-private partnerships that bring together national laboratories, universities, and industry to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation scientific technologies. By co-designing AI platforms, data resources, and experimental capabilities with private-sector innovators, SLAC will help build a powerful, collaborative ecosystem capable of doubling U.S. scientific output.
Partnership strengths:
-Proven track record of building large, complex collaborations that connect government, academia, and industry in shared mission-focused research
-An open-access user facility model that allows emerging technologies developed with industry to scale rapidly across the nation.
-A bridge between DOE mission science and Stanford’s innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology-transfer ecosystem.
