Moonshots With Peter Diamandis: Michael Kratsios on America’s AI-Led Science Boom

**Peter Diamandis** (0:01)
When politics, science, and artificial intelligence collide, the stakes get massive. In this episode, Peter Diamandis sits down with Michael Kratsios, the 13th Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, to explore what he's calling a new golden age of American science.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:23)
And Kratsios doesn't hold back. He argues that AI is no longer niche. It's affecting everything from drones to medical diagnostics to financial services.
In his words, this is the golden age of America.

**Peter Diamandis** (0:39)
Right. But here's where it gets interesting. He talks about this split between technologies that are born free versus born in captivity.
Born free technologies like the Internet in the 1990s should grow with light regulation.
But born in captivity ones, think commercial drones or AI-powered medical tools, they need active government action to become safe and commercial.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:06)
That philosophy shapes everything they're doing. The AI action plan, the Genesis mission, the science and new golden age report.
Kratsios says Genesis is designed to use AI across government science and technology, and actually double the productivity of the entire scientific enterprise over the next decade.

**Peter Diamandis** (1:28)
The ambitions are wild. We're talking returning to the moon by 2028, building the first elements of a lunar base by 2030, and placing a nuclear reactor in space by 2028

**SPEAKER_2** (1:43)
But he's also focused on making AI practical right now. He says AI has a massive PR problem, because public debate centers on fear and job loss. His answer? Highlight positive use cases in health care, manufacturing and hiring, while gathering better labor data, so policymakers understand AI's real effects.

**Peter Diamandis** (2:04)
On the global tech race, he's clear. The US should lead in both open source and closed source AI, backed by the best chips and models.
He defends export controls on China, saying those restrictions have helped slow Beijing's ability to build competitive chips.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:21)
And then the conversation turns to scientific reform, which might be the most critical part. Kratsios says the research system is too slow, too bureaucratic, too comfortable. He calls the burden of grant administration one of the most depressing statistics I can think of.

**Peter Diamandis** (2:38)
His fixes?
Long-duration grants, fast-track reviews, golden tickets for risk-taking panelists, and meta-science units to study how science itself is funded. He even imagines AI agents, bounties, and autonomous labs that could create a complete, fundamental AI native reimagining of the entire scientific process.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:00)
Building on that, he argues federal data should be treated as a public good, like NOAA weather data, so taxpayers benefit from discoveries built on public investment.

**Peter Diamandis** (3:10)
They close by touching on education, longevity, and innovation zones. Kratsios says the current school model is outdated, STEM participation is falling, and aging deserves far more attention.
His larger message is simple. Let the horses run, modernize the rules, and give American science room to move.