Sen. Young introduces bipartisan bill to expand access to artificial intelligence research

Posted By: The Reporter August 5, 2023

Young

Last week, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduced the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2023 (CREATE AI Act).

This bipartisan legislation establishes the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) as a shared national research infrastructure that provides AI researchers and students with greater access to the complex resources, data, and tools needed to develop safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence. 

“Artificial intelligence is already integrated into nearly every facet of our lives,” Sen. Young said. “Recent major leaps in innovation provide great promise, but also have caused some to highlight potential risks to society. The United States cannot cede leadership in AI development, and we must harness the great potential the technology offers in order to reap its benefits and combat any potential risks. The CREATE AI Act will help us do that by establishing the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) to democratize AI safety research and serve as a testbed for the development and implementation of innovative AI practices.”

The CREATE AI Act establishes the NAIRR, which has four primary goals:

  1. Spur innovation and advance the development of safe, reliable, and trustworthy AI research and development.
  2. Improve access to AI resources for researchers and students, including groups typically underrepresented in STEM.
  3. Improve capacity for AI research in the United States.
  4. Support the testing, benchmarking, and evaluation of AI systems developed and deployed in the United States.

The NAIRR will offer the following to researchers, educators, and students at higher education institutions, non-profits, and federally funded agencies:

  • Computational resources, including an open-source software environment and a programming interface providing structured access to AI models.
  • Data, including curated datasets of user interest and an AI data commons.
  • Educational tools and services, including educational materials, technical training, and user support.
  • AI testbeds, including a catalog of open AI testbeds and a collaborative project with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Background

A recommendation to establish the NAIRR came from the final report of the National Security Commission on AI, and work done by Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) significantly advanced the concept. In January, the NAIRR Task Force released its final report with a roadmap for standing up a national research infrastructure that would broaden access to the resources essential to AI research and development. The CREATE AI Act implements many of the recommendations of the NAIRR Task Force.

The CREATE AI Act has garnered widespread support from key AI community stakeholders, including TechNet, the National Science Foundation (NSF), Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), Anthropic, and SeedAI.

Click here to read the bill.

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