The Trump Administration has fired a number of National Science Foundation employees who had been handpicked for their expertise in AI, threatening the agency’s ability to sustain key AI research, Bloomberg reported.
One of the affected departments inside NSF, called the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships, was instrumental in funneling government grants focused on AI. Many review panels have been postponed or canceled as a result of the layoffs, stalling funding for some AI projects, according to Bloomberg.
AI experts have criticized the Trump Administration’s recent cuts to scientific grant-making, and in particular, reductions championed by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. In a post on X, Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer and Nobel Laureate, called for Musk to be expelled from the British Royal Society “because of the huge damage he is doing to scientific institutions in the U.S.”
Only craven, insecure fools care about awards and memberships. History is the actual judge, always and forever.
Your comments above are carelessly ignorant, cruel and false.
That said, what specific actions require correction? I will make mistakes, but endeavor to fix them…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2025
Musk responded to Hinton’s post, saying, “I will make mistakes, but endeavor to fix them.”