Redirecting money toward individual scientists would change that pipeline. Advocates of such models, sometimes called "people, not projects" funding, argue that giving researchers flexible money directly lets them pursue risky or unconventional work without spending months on grant paperwork.

Critics counter that institutional oversight helps ensure accountability, supports shared equipment and facilities, and spreads funding across disciplines that lack an obvious commercial or strategic hook.

Why AI?

Artificial intelligence has become the clearest priority in Washington's research agenda across both parties in recent years. Lawmakers and administrations have repeatedly described AI leadership as a matter of economic and national-security competitiveness.

Prioritizing AI within science budgets would push fields like machine learning, computing infrastructure, and AI-adjacent disciplines up the funding ladder — potentially at the expense of other areas of basic research, from geology to biomedical science. The Unite.AI report does not break down which fields could lose ground.

What we still don't know

This is an early-stage story, and caution is warranted.

• No dollar figures, agency allocations, or budget-line specifics have been reported.
• It remains unclear whether Congress — which controls appropriations — would go along with the redirection.
• The mechanism for funding "individual scientists" is undefined; it could mean anything from expanded personal fellowships to a broader restructuring of grant-making.
• No administration officials are quoted in the available coverage explaining the rationale on the record.

What happens next

Watch for concrete signals in upcoming budget documents and agency spending plans. If the White House formalizes the shift, it would appear in presidential budget requests and in the funding priorities that agencies like the NSF publish each year.

Congressional appropriators would then decide how much of the direction survives. Science-funding policy rarely changes overnight; budgets move in annual cycles, and major redirections typically phase in over several years.

For researchers and universities, the practical question is whether AI-heavy, investigator-directed funding expands total science spending or simply reshuffles a fixed pool — a distinction the early reporting does not yet answer.

SciBeat will update this story as agencies and the White House release specifics.