The CDC placed early bets on AI — and now they are paying off

A view of the sign of Center for Disease Control headquarters is seen in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on August 06, 2022. Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

When the White House unveiled the Genesis Mission, the sweeping governmentwide initiative to accelerate artificial intelligence using the combined power of national labs and high-performance computing, it was easy to see why the announcement grabbed headlines. Genesis promises to connect federal research data, supercomputers and scientific expertise into one massive discovery engine. The mission’s goal is nothing less than transforming how American science operates.

Genesis may be new, but the idea that federal agencies should use AI to solve entrenched problems is not. Some agencies have been laying groundwork for years, and one of the most advanced is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the public often associates the CDC with disease surveillance and outbreak response, the agency ...