On June 4 (eastern standard time), the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signed a Statement of Intent stating that Japan and the US would forge a strategic partnership under the U.S. Genesis Mission. At RIKEN, we very much welcome the fact that Japan was chosen as the first international partner.

AI technology is developing at an unprecedentedly rapid speed. In particular, the dramatic development of autonomous AI agents, which can think and act on their own, has sent shockwaves through society as a whole. The forefront of this innovation can be found precisely in the area of scientific research. In the scientific community, research data and processes have traditionally been widely published in the form of academic papers, and based on these publications, scientists around the world have been able to verify the reproducibility of the data among themselves, and through a process in which ideas are tested and refined, they have built up a body of reliable knowledge as a shared asset of humanity. This process of creating scientific knowledge itself— the fundamental “operating system” of science—which scientists around the world have created over time, carefully preserved, and passed down—is now on the verge of a radical transformation driven by innovation in the field of AI.

In recent years, “data-driven” methodologies—which involve collecting, accumulating, and analyzing vast amounts of data—have spread across various fields, significantly expanding the scope of traditional scientific approaches. Further, with its evolution from deep learning to generative AI, AI is no longer merely a tool for computation and analysis; it is now positioned as a new foundation for research on par with experimentation, theory, and simulation, and has stepped up to become a “partner” for researchers. Moreover, AI has recently reached a level where multiple AI agents can collaborate to make new scientific discoveries autonomously, without human instructions.

What is crucial here is that AI does not replace traditional methods such as experiments, theory, and simulation; rather, by subsuming and incorporating them, it is pushing forward the very mechanisms of scientific knowledge creation and dramatically enhancing humanity’s capacity for discovery.

This transformation is not only taking place in the scientific world. There is no doubt that it will rapidly revolutionize industrial technology and bring about a major transformation in the very structures of our society and economy (society’s own “operating system”).

However, the pace of this evolution is so rapid that even the scientists on the front lines of AI research, who created these technologies, are finding it difficult to predict or control the future—specifically, to answer the question, “Where is AI taking humanity?” To nurture AI as a “human-centered technology” and guide humanity toward a prosperous future, we must deeply investigate the underlying principles of AI itself and use those insights to guide technological development and its incorporation into society. While this is a critical responsibility for the scientific community, it cannot be achieved by any single nation alone. We must join hands with like-minded international partners to build research infrastructures and platforms that are accessible to all and that can bring together wisdom from around the world.

This Japan-U.S. collaboration centered on AI for Science is not merely a research partnership, but rather is aimed at building an international foundation for scientific knowledge creation. We believe it is a crucial first step toward accelerating human discovery many times over under a new scientific “operating system,” and that it will serve as the starting point for a new framework to solve challenges common to all of humanity.

The Genesis Mission will leverage world-class computing resources and research infrastructures. Numerous American companies leading global AI innovation are participating in this mission, making it a forum where we can share data while protecting each other’s information, thereby generating new economic value and business opportunities.

What is crucial here is to create a fair and vibrant business environment by implementing appropriate open and closed management—maximizing the openness of scientific research cultivated over many years while safeguarding confidential information that must be protected.

I believe Japan’s role as the Genesis Mission’s first international partner is to put into practice a new form of “AI sovereignty” on this stage. In order to ensure AI sovereignty in the fields of AI for Science as well as AI for Industrial Science—a pioneering industrial area—it is essential to thoroughly establish, maintain, and preserve the valuable research and corporate data that serve as each country’s intellectual foundation, as well as its own scientific AI development and a national computing infrastructure to support it. Furthermore, AI sovereignty at the leading edge entails the ability of each country to play a proactive role within international cooperative frameworks—with its own infrastructure at its core—in order to make independent judgments and continuously “co-create” scientific and economic value.

I believe that through this collaboration, Japan can actively participate in building and operating a world-class infrastructure for generating scientific knowledge, while enhancing the unique value that only Japan can provide and establishing its strategic indispensability within the international research and technology ecosystem. A strategy that builds trust through this international cooperation while breaking through the boundaries of scientific discovery and technological innovation through autonomous Japan-US collaboration—a form of co-creation—is a crucial element of AI sovereignty in the coming era. The Japan-US collaboration under the Genesis Mission is not only a source of significant synergy but also represents an investment in Japan’s future with exceptionally high leverage—one that channels cutting-edge insights and scientific breakthroughs, derived from the combined strengths of Japan and the US back into Japan.

Based on this philosophy, in 2022 RIKEN launched the Transformative Research Innovation Platform of RIKEN platforms (TRIP) initiative in 2022, with the aim to transform scientific research through data and pioneer new academic fields. Furthermore, in 2023, as an evolution of this initiative, we launched TRIP-AGIS, which champions AI for Science, and have been carrying out collaborations with the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, among others.

RIKEN is a comprehensive scientific institute carrying out research in a wide range of research fields and operating a number of world-class research infrastructures, including the Fugaku supercomputer, the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility, and a bioresource center. We believe that we are one of the few research institutions in the world capable of demonstrating new research methodologies and pioneering new fields of research.

Taking this Japan-U.S. collaboration as an opportunity, we aim to further develop the cooperation we have built between Japan and the US to date, and to contribute to the pioneering implementation of a new mechanism for creating scientific knowledge that fuses and integrates all of RIKEN’s strengths—namely, experiment, theory, simulation, AI, and quantum technology.

I feel that 2026 is a year that, when looked back upon in the history of humanity, will be called a “significant turning point.” As a core comprehensive scientific research institute in Japan, RIKEN views this historic partnership as a great opportunity to fulfill our mission of “pioneering a better future society through the power of science,” and we will contribute with all our might.

June 5, 2026
Makoto Gonokami, President, RIKEN