II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1558 

To establish a coordinated Federal initiative to accelerate research and development on artificial intelligence for the economic and national security 

of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2019 

Mr. HEINRICH (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a coordinated Federal initiative to accelerate 

research and development on artificial intelligence for 

the economic and national security of the United States, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act’’ or ‘‘AI–IA’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 


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Sec. 2. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

TITLE I—NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH AND 

DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE 

Sec. 101. National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Initiative. 

Sec. 102. National Artificial Intelligence Coordination Office. 

Sec. 103. Interagency Committee on Artificial Intelligence. 

Sec. 104. National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee. 

Sec. 105. Study on the artificial intelligence workforce. 

TITLE II—NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND 

TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES 

Sec. 201. National Institute of Standards and Technology activities on artificial 

intelligence. 

TITLE III—NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY CENTERS FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH 

AND EDUCATION 

Sec. 301. Research and education program on artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence engineering. 

Sec. 302. Multidisciplinary Centers for Artificial Intelligence Research and 

Education. 

TITLE IV—DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 

Sec. 401. Research and development program on artificial intelligence. 

1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) there is a need for a National Artificial In4 telligence Initiative, including a comprehensive strat5 egy for and coordination across agencies on research 

6 and development on artificial intelligence; 

7 (2) there are currently several interagency com8 mittees working on related tasks with respect to ar9 tificial intelligence; and 

10 (3) the reporting structure of such committees 

11 could be simplified to address efficiently the goals of 

12 an initiative described in paragraph (1). 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar4 tificial intelligence’’ includes the following: 

5 (A) Any artificial system that performs 

6 tasks under varying and unpredictable cir7 cumstances without significant human over8 sight, or that can learn from experience and im9 prove performance when exposed to data sets. 

10 (B) An artificial system developed in com11 puter software, physical hardware, or other con12 text that solves tasks requiring human-like per13 ception, cognition, planning, learning, commu14 nication, or physical action. 

15 (C) An artificial system designed to think 

16 or act like a human, including cognitive archi17 tectures and neural networks. 

18 (D) A set of techniques, including machine 

19 learning, that is designed to approximate a cog20 nitive task. 

21 (E) An artificial system designed to act ra22 tionally, including an intelligent software agent 

23 or embodied robot that achieves goals using 

24 perception, planning, reasoning, learning, com25 municating, decision making, and acting. 


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1 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Advi2 sory Committee’’ means the advisory committee es3 tablished or designated under section 104. 

4 (3) EMERGING RESEARCH INSTITUTION.—The 

5 term ‘‘emerging research institution’’ means an in6 stitution of higher education that— 

7 (A) receives less than $20,000,000 in Fed8 eral research funding annually; and 

9 (B) may grant a doctoral degree. 

10 (4) INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘industry’’ means 

11 entities in industries relevant to artificial intel12 ligence. 

13 (5) INITIATIVE.—The term ‘‘Initiative’’ means 

14 the National Artificial Intelligence Research and De15 velopment Initiative established under section 101. 

16 (6) INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

17 The term ‘‘institutions of higher education’’ has the 

18 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 

19 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

20 (7) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.—The term 

21 ‘‘Interagency Committee’’ means the interagency 

22 committee established or designated under section 

23 103. 

24 (8) K–12 EDUCATION.—The term ‘‘K–12 edu25 cation’’ means elementary school and secondary eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1558.IS S1558

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1 cation, as such terms are defined in section 8101 of 

2 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

4 (9) MACHINE LEARNING.—The term ‘‘machine 

5 learning’’ means a subfield of artificial intelligence 

6 that is characterized by giving computers the auton7 omous ability to progressively optimize performance 

8 of a specific task based on data without being explic9 itly programmed. 

10 (10) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 

11 term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ means any of 

12 the following: 

13 (A) A Hispanic-serving institution (as de14 fined in section 502(a) of the Higher Education 

15 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a))). 

16 (B) A Tribal College or University (as de17 fined in section 316(b) of the Higher Education 

18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b))). 

19 (C) An Alaska Native-serving institution 

20 (as defined in section 317(b) of the Higher 

21 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b))). 

22 (D) A Native Hawaiian-serving institution 

23 (as defined in section 317(b) of the Higher 

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b))). 


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1 (E) A Predominantly Black Institution (as 

2 defined in section 318(b) of the Higher Edu3 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059e(b))). 

4 (F) A Native American-serving nontribal 

5 institution (as defined in section 319(b) of the 

6 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

7 1059f(b))). 

8 (G) An Asian American and Native Amer9 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution (as de10 fined in section 320(b) of the Higher Education 

11 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059g(b))). 

12 TITLE I—NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL 

13 INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH 

14 AND DEVELOPMENT INITIA15 TIVE 

16 SEC. 101. NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH 

17 AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

18 The President shall establish and implement an ini19 tiative with respect to artificial intelligence to be known 

20 as the ‘‘National Artificial Intelligence Research and De21 velopment Initiative’’. In carrying out the Initiative, the 

22 President shall, acting through appropriate Federal enti23 ties, including the Networking and Information Tech24 nology Research and Development Program— 


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1 (1) establish objectives, priorities, and metrics 

2 for strategic plans under section 103(d) to accelerate 

3 development of science and technology applications 

4 for artificial intelligence in the United States; 

5 (2) invest in research, development, demonstra6 tion, application to analysis and modeling, and other 

7 activities with respect to science and technology in 

8 artificial intelligence; 

9 (3) support the development of a workforce 

10 pipeline for science and technology with respect to 

11 artificial intelligence by making strategic invest12 ments to— 

13 (A) expand the number of researchers, 

14 educators, and students with training in science 

15 and technology in artificial intelligence; 

16 (B) increase the number of skilled and 

17 trained workers from underrepresented commu18 nities who can contribute to the development of 

19 artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence 

20 technology, diversify the artificial intelligence 

21 workforce, and expand the artificial intelligence 

22 workforce pipeline; 

23 (C) promote the development and inclusion 

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1 spect to artificial intelligence, including ad2 vanced technological education, during the pri3 mary, secondary, undergraduate, graduate, 

4 postdoctoral, adult learning, and career retrain5 ing stages of education; and 

6 (D) equip workers with the knowledge and 

7 skill sets required to operate effectively in occu8 pations and workplaces that will be increasingly 

9 influenced by artificial intelligence; 

10 (4) facilitate coordination of efforts and collabo11 ration with respect to research and development of 

12 artificial intelligence among government agencies, 

13 Federal and national laboratories, nonprofit organi14 zations, institutions of higher education, and indus15 try; 

16 (5) leverage existing Federal research invest17 ments, and partner with industry and institutions of 

18 higher education to leverage knowledge and re19 sources, to advance objectives and priorities of the 

20 Initiative; 

21 (6) strengthen research, development, dem22 onstration, and applications in science and tech23 nology with respect to artificial intelligence by— 


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1 (A) addressing gaps in basic research 

2 knowledge with respect to artificial intelligence 

3 through research; 

4 (B) promoting the further development of 

5 facilities and centers available for research, 

6 testing, and education in science and technology 

7 with respect to artificial intelligence; 

8 (C) stimulating research on, and pro9 moting more rapid development and commer10 cialization of, artificial intelligence-based tech11 nologies; 

12 (D) promoting research into the effects of 

13 artificial intelligence and applications of artifi14 cial intelligence on society, the workforce and 

15 workplace, and individuals, including those from 

16 underrepresented communities; 

17 (E) promoting data and model sharing 

18 among the Federal government, academic re19 searchers, the private sector, and other practi20 tioners of artificial intelligence; 

21 (F) identifying and minimizing inappro22 priate bias in data sets, algorithms, and other 

23 aspects of artificial intelligence; and 

24 (G) supporting efforts to create metrics to 

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1 tions of science and technology with respect to 

2 artificial intelligence; and 

3 (7) ensure that research, development, dem4 onstration, and applications efforts with respect to 

5 artificial intelligence create measurable benefits for 

6 all individuals in the United States, including mem7 bers of disadvantaged and underrepresented groups. 

8 SEC. 102. NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COORDI9 NATION OFFICE. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

11 Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with the 

12 Director of the National Science Foundation, the Sec13 retary of Energy, and the Secretary of Commerce, shall 

14 establish or designate, and appoint a director of, an office 

15 to be known as the ‘‘National Artificial Intelligence Co16 ordination Office’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Of17 fice’’). 

18 (b) DUTIES.—The Office shall— 

19 (1) provide technical and administrative support 

20 to the Advisory Committee; 

21 (2) serve as the point of contact on Federal ar22 tificial intelligence activities for government organi23 zations, academia, industry, professional societies, 

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1 izen groups, and others to exchange technical and 

2 programmatic information; 

3 (3) conduct public outreach, including dissemi4 nation of findings and recommendations of the Advi5 sory Committee (as appropriate); and 

6 (4) promote access to and development of early 

7 applications of the technologies, innovations, and ex8 pertise that benefit the public derived from Initiative 

9 activities to agency missions and systems across the 

10 Federal Government, and to United States industry, 

11 including startup companies. 

12 (c) FUNDING.—The Office shall be funded through 

13 interagency funding. 

14 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office 

16 of Science and Technology Policy shall submit to the Com17 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

18 Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech19 nology of the House of Representatives a report on fund20 ing for the National Artificial Intelligence Coordination 

21 Office. The report shall include— 

22 (1) the amount of funding required to ade23 quately fund the Office; 

24 (2) the adequacy of existing mechanisms to 

25 fund the Office; and 


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1 (3) the actions taken by the director of the Of2 fice to ensure stable funding for the Office. 

3 SEC. 103. INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON ARTIFICIAL IN4 TELLIGENCE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

6 Science and Technology Policy shall establish or designate 

7 an interagency committee to be known as the ‘‘Inter8 agency Committee on Artificial Intelligence’’. 

9 (b) COMPOSITION; CHAIRS.— 

10 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Interagency Com11 mittee shall be comprised of representatives from the 

12 following, as detailed to the Interagency Committee 

13 by the head of the agency concerned: 

14 (A) The National Institute of Standards 

15 and Technology. 

16 (B) The National Science Foundation. 

17 (C) The Department of Energy. 

18 (D) The National Aeronautics and Space 

19 Administration. 

20 (E) The Department of Defense. 

21 (F) The Office of the Director of National 

22 Intelligence. 

23 (G) The Office of Management and Budg24 et. 


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1 (H) The Office of Science and Technology 

2 Policy. 

3 (I) The National Institutes of Health. 

4 (J) Any other Federal agency the Director 

5 of the Office of Science and Technology Policy 

6 considers appropriate. 

7 (2) CO-CHAIRS.—The Interagency Committee 

8 shall be co-chaired by the following: 

9 (A) The Secretary of Energy. 

10 (B) The Director of the Office of Science 

11 and Technology Policy. 

12 (C) The Director of the National Institute 

13 of Standards and Technology. 

14 (D) The Director of the National Science 

15 Foundation. 

16 (c) DUTIES.—The Interagency Committee shall— 

17 (1) coordinate, and make recommendations for, 

18 activities and programs of Federal agencies on re19 search and education with respect to artificial intel20 ligence and artificial intelligence technology; 

21 (2) establish objectives and priorities for the 

22 Initiative, consistent with the objectives and pur23 poses specified in section 101, based on identified 

24 knowledge and workforce gaps and other national 

25 needs; 


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1 (3) assess and recommend Federal infrastruc2 ture needs to support the Initiative; and 

3 (4) evaluate opportunities for international co4 operation with strategic allies on research and devel5 opment with respect to artificial intelligence and ar6 tificial intelligence technology. 

7 (d) STRATEGIC PLAN.—Not later than 1 year after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Interagency 

9 Committee shall develop a 5-year strategic plan, and 6 

10 years after enactment of this Act develop an additional 

11 5-year strategic plan, with periodic updates (as appro12 priate), to guide the activities of the Initiative, meet Initia13 tive goals and priorities, and anticipate outcomes at par14 ticipating agencies. In carrying out this subsection, the 

15 Interagency Committee should take into consideration re16 ports from the Advisory Committee. 

17 SEC. 104. NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ADVISORY 

18 COMMITTEE. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

20 Science Foundation (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Di21 rector’’) shall establish or designate an advisory committee 

22 to be known as the ‘‘National Artificial Intelligence Advi23 sory Committee’’. 

24 (b) QUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

2 Science Foundation, in consultation with the Direc3 tor of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 

4 shall appoint as members of the Advisory Committee 

5 individual who are qualified to provide advice and in6 formation on research, development, demonstrations, 

7 education, infrastructure, technology transfer, com8 mercial applications, and concerns of a national se9 curity, social, or economic nature with respect to ar10 tificial intelligence and artificial intelligence tech11 nology. The Director shall seek public input, and in12 dividuals so appointed shall collectively have exper13 tise on a wide range of defense and non-defense arti14 ficial intelligence matters. 

15 (2) LIMITATION.—Not more than half of the 

16 members of the Advisory Committee may be rep17 resentatives of the artificial intelligence industry. 

18 (c) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee shall advise 

19 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Pol20 icy and the Interagency Committee on Artificial Intel21 ligence under section 103 on matters relating to the Initia22 tive, including assessing— 

23 (1) trends and developments in artificial intel24 ligence, including the current and near future state 

25 of artificial intelligence systems and forecasting; 


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1 (2) progress made in implementing the Initia2 tive; 

3 (3) the need to revise the Initiative; 

4 (4) balance among the components of the Ini5 tiative, including funding levels for component areas 

6 of the Initiative; 

7 (5) whether the component areas, priorities, 

8 and technical goals of the Initiative are helping to 

9 maintain United States leadership in artificial intel10 ligence and artificial intelligence technology; 

11 (6) the management, coordination, implementa12 tion, and activities of the Initiative; and 

13 (7) whether societal, ethical, legal, environ14 mental, and workforce concerns with respect to arti15 ficial intelligence and artificial intelligence tech16 nology are adequately addressed by the Initiative. 

17 (d) REPORTS.—Not later than 4 years after the date 

18 of the most recent assessment under subsection (c), and 

19 quadrennially thereafter, the Advisory Committee shall 

20 submit to the Director of the National Science Founda21 tion, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor22 tation of the Senate, and the Committee on Science, 

23 Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives 

24 a report on its assessments under subsection (c) and its 

25 recommendations for ways to improve the Initiative. 


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1 (e) TRAVEL EXPENSES OF NON-FEDERAL MEM2 BERS.—Non-Federal members of the Advisory Committee, 

3 while attending meetings of the Advisory Committee or 

4 while otherwise serving at the request of the head of the 

5 Advisory Committee away from their homes or regular 

6 places of business, may be allowed travel expenses, includ7 ing per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by sec8 tion 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for individuals 

9 in the government serving without pay. Nothing in this 

10 subsection shall be construed to prohibit members of the 

11 Advisory Committee who are officers or employees of the 

12 United States from being allowed travel expenses, includ13 ing per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with ex14 isting law. 

15 (f) EXEMPTION FROM SUNSET.—Section 14 of the 

16 Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not 

17 apply to the Advisory Committee. 

18 SEC. 105. STUDY ON THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WORK19 FORCE. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the National Artificial 

22 Intelligence Coordination Office shall seek to enter into 

23 a contract with a federally funded research and develop24 ment center for a study on the mechanisms that produce 

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1 cluding researchers and specialists in artificial intelligence 

2 and users of artificial intelligence) in order to identify and 

3 develop actions to ensure an appropriate increase in the 

4 size, quality, and diversity of the workforce. 

5 (b) COLLABORATION IN STUDY.—The contract re6 ferred to in subsection (a) shall require the federally fund7 ed research and development center entering into the con8 tract to do the following: 

9 (1) Collaborate with the Secretary of Com10 merce, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, and 

11 the Director of the Census in developing a com12 prehensive and detailed understanding of the work13 force needs of and employment opportunities in the 

14 artificial intelligence field, by State and by region. 

15 (2) Collaborate in carrying out the study with 

16 educational institutions, State and local workforce 

17 development boards, nonprofit organizations, labor 

18 organizations, apprenticeship programs, industry, 

19 and other entities in the artificial intelligence field. 

20 (3) Collaborate with minority-serving institu21 tions in order to facilitate the sharing of best prac22 tices and approaches for increasing and retaining 

23 underrepresented populations in the artificial intel24 ligence field. 


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1 (4) Facilitate the sharing of best practices and 

2 approaches for the development and sustainment of 

3 the workforce in artificial intelligence that are iden4 tified or developed through the study among— 

5 (A) entities in the artificial intelligence 

6 field, State and local workforce development 

7 boards, nonprofit organizations, labor organiza8 tions, and apprenticeship programs that provide 

9 training programs for employment in the artifi10 cial intelligence field; and 

11 (B) educational institutions that seek to 

12 establish such training programs. 

13 (c) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ANNUAL REPORT ON

14 JOB CREATION.—Ech year while the contract referred to 

15 in subsection (a) is in force, the Secretary of Labor shall, 

16 using information derived from the study described in that 

17 subsection and other appropriate information, issue to the 

18 public a report on job creation in the artificial intelligence 

19 field during the preceding year. 


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1 TITLE II—NATIONAL INSTITUTE 

2 OF STANDARDS AND TECH3 NOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTEL4 LIGENCE ACTIVITIES 

5 SEC. 201. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECH6 NOLOGY ACTIVITIES ON ARTIFICIAL INTEL7 LIGENCE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—As part of the Initiative, the Di9 rector of the National Institute of Standards and Tech10 nology (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) 

11 shall— 

12 (1) support the development of measurements 

13 and standards necessary to advance commercial de14 velopment of artificial intelligence applications, in15 cluding by— 

16 (A) developing measurements and stand17 ards; 

18 (B) supporting efforts to develop measure19 ments and consensus standards by standards 

20 development organizations; and 

21 (C) modernizing the infrastructure used 

22 for benchmarking artificial intelligence tech23 nologies; 

24 (2) establishing and supporting collaborative 

25 ventures or consortia with public or private sector 


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1 entities, including institutions of higher education, 

2 National Laboratories, and industry for the purpose 

3 of advancing fundamental and applied research and 

4 development on artificial intelligence; and 

5 (3) use existing authorities to award contracts 

6 as necessary to carry out the Initiative, including co7 operative agreements and other similar transactions. 

8 (b) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OUTREACH.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall conduct 

10 outreach— 

11 (A) to receive input from stakeholders on 

12 the development of a plan to address future 

13 measurements and standards related to artifi14 cial intelligence; and 

15 (B) to provide an opportunity for public 

16 comment on any such measurements or stand17 ards. 

18 (2) MEETINGS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

21 a periodic basis thereafter, as the Director de22 termines appropriate, the Director shall convene 

23 1 or more meetings of stakeholders, including 

24 technical expert representatives from govern25 ment organizations, industry, and institutions 


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1 of higher education, to discuss topics described 

2 in subparagraph (B). 

3 (B) TOPICS.—Meetings under subpara4 graph (A) may cover topics that the Director 

5 determines to be important to the development 

6 of standards and measurements with respect to 

7 artificial intelligence, including— 

8 (i) cybersecurity; 

9 (ii) algorithm accountability; 

10 (iii) algorithm explainability; 

11 (iv) algorithm trustworthiness; 

12 (v) establishment of a common lexicon 

13 for artificial intelligence; and 

14 (vi) resources and methods for 

15 benchmarking artificial intelligence tech16 nologies. 

17 (C) PURPOSES.—The purposes of meetings 

18 under this paragraph shall be— 

19 (i) to assess contemporary research on 

20 the topics determined by the Director 

21 under subparagraph (B); 

22 (ii) to evaluate research gaps relating 

23 to such topics; 

24 (iii) to provide an opportunity for 

25 stakeholders to provide recommendations 


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1 on the research to be addressed by the Na2 tional Institute of Standards and Tech3 nology and the Initiative; and 

4 (iv) to coordinate engagement with 

5 international standards bodies in order to 

6 ensure United States leadership in the de7 velopment of global technical standards, in8 cluding witb respect to artificial intel9 ligence and cybersecurity. 

10 (3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 

11 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

12 Director shall transmit to the Committee on Com13 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

14 and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech15 nology of the House of Representatives a report 

16 summarizing the results of outreach and meetings 

17 conducted under this subsection. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 

20 2020 through 2024, $40,000,000 to carry out this section. 


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1 TITLE III—NATIONAL SCIENCE 

2 FOUNDATION AND MULTI3 DISCIPLINARY CENTERS FOR 

4 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

5 RESEARCH AND EDUCATION 

6 SEC. 301. RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM ON ARTI7 FICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ARTIFICIAL IN8 TELLIGENCE ENGINEERING. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—As part of the Initiative, the Di10 rector of the National Science Foundation (in this section 

11 referred to as the ‘‘Director’’) shall establish and imple12 ment a research and education program on artificial intel13 ligence and artificial intelligence engineering. 

14 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 

15 program required under subsection (a), the Director 

16 shall— 

17 (1) continue to support interdisciplinary re18 search on, and human resources development in, all 

19 aspects of science and engineering with respect to 

20 artificial intelligence, including— 

21 (A) algorithm accountability; 

22 (B) minimization of inappropriate bias in 

23 training data sets or algorithmic feature selec24 tion; 


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1 (C) qualitative and quantitative forecasting 

2 of future capabilities and applications; and 

3 (D) societal and ethical implications of ar4 tificial intelligence; 

5 (2) use existing authorities and programs and 

6 collaborate with other Federal agencies— 

7 (A) to improve teaching and learning in 

8 science and engineering with respect to artificial 

9 intelligence during the primary, secondary, un10 dergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, adult 

11 learning, and career retraining stages of edu12 cation; 

13 (B) to increase participation in artificial 

14 intelligence fields, including by individuals iden15 tified in sections 33 and 34 of the Science and 

16 Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (42 

17 U.S.C. 1885a, 1885b); 

18 (C) to formulate goals for education activi19 ties in engineering and research with respect to 

20 artificial intelligence to be supported by the Na21 tional Science Foundation related to topics im22 portant to the Initiative, including— 

23 (i) algorithm accountability; 

24 (ii) algorithm explainability; 

25 (iii) consumer data privacy; 


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1 (iv) assessment and minimization of 

2 inappropriate bias in training data and 

3 output; 

4 (v) societal and ethical implications of 

5 the use of artificial intelligence; 

6 (vi) algorithm trustworthiness; and 

7 (vii) algorithmic forecasting; 

8 (D) to engage with institutions of higher 

9 education, research communities, potential 

10 users of information produced under this sec11 tion, entities in the private sector, and non-Fed12 eral entities— 

13 (i) to leverage the collective body of 

14 knowledge from existing research and edu15 cation activities with respect to artificial 

16 intelligence and artificial intelligence engi17 neering; and 

18 (ii) to support partnerships among in19 stitutions of higher education and industry 

20 that facilitate collaborative research, per21 sonnel exchanges, and workforce develop22 ment with respect to artificial intelligence 

23 and artificial intelligence engineering; 

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1 ligence engineering funded through existing 

2 programs across the directorates of the Na3 tional Science Foundation; 

4 (F) to ensure adequate access to research 

5 and education infrastructure with respect to ar6 tificial intelligence and artificial intelligence en7 gineering, including through development of 

8 hardware and facilitation of the use of com9 puting resources, including cloud-based com10 puting services; and 

11 (G) to increase participation rates in re12 search and education on artificial intelligence 

13 among underrepresented communities by engag14 ing with minority-serving institutions. 

15 (c) GRADUATE TRAINEESHIPS.—In carrying out the 

16 program required under subsection (a), the Director may 

17 provide traineeships to graduate students at institutions 

18 of higher education who— 

19 (1) are United States nationals or aliens law20 fully admitted for permanent residence in the United 

21 States; and 

22 (2) who choose to pursue masters or doctoral 

23 degrees in artificial intelligence or artificial intel24 ligence engineering. 


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1 SEC. 302. MULTIDISCIPLINARY CENTERS FOR ARTIFICIAL 

2 INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

4 Science Foundation (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Di5 rector’’), in consultation with other appropriate Federal 

6 agencies, shall award grants to eligible entities to establish 

7 up to 5 research and education centers (in this section 

8 referred to as ‘‘Centers’’) to conduct research and edu9 cation activities in support of the Initiative. Each Center 

10 established pursuant to such a grant shall be known as 

11 a ‘‘Multidisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence Re12 search and Education’’. 

13 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of this sec14 tion, an eligible entity is any entity as follows: 

15 (1) An institution of higher education. 

16 (2) A relevant nonprofit organization. 

17 (3) A State or local government. 

18 (4) A consortium of entities that consists of— 

19 (A) two or more entities specified in para20 graphs (1) through (3); or 

21 (B) at least one entity specified in such 

22 paragraphs and a relevant private sector orga23 nization that is not a nonprofit organization. 

24 (c) MINIMUM NUMBER OF GRANTS FOR CERTAIN

25 PURPOSES.— 


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1 (1) K–12 EDUCATION.—Not less than 1 grant 

2 under this section must be for a Center with the pri3 mary purpose of integrating artificial intelligence 

4 into K–12 education. 

5 (2) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION.—Not less 

6 than 1 grant under this section must be for a Center 

7 located at a minority-serving institution. 

8 (d) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking funding 

9 under this section shall submit an application to the Direc10 tor at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

11 information as the Director may require. The application 

12 shall include— 

13 (1) a plan for the proposed Center— 

14 (A) to work with other research institu15 tions, emerging research institutions, and in16 dustry to leverage expertise in artificial intel17 ligence, education and curricula development, 

18 and technology transfer; 

19 (B) to promote active collaboration among 

20 researchers in multiple disciplines and across 

21 multiple institutions involved in artificial intel22 ligence research including physics, engineering, 

23 mathematical sciences, computer and informa24 tion science, biological and cognitive sciences, 

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1 havioral sciences (such as industrial-organiza2 tional psychology); 

3 (C) to integrate into the activities of such 

4 Center consideration of the ethics of develop5 ment, technology usage, and data collection, 

6 storage, and sharing (including training data 

7 sets) in connection with artificial intelligence; 

8 (D) to support long-term and short-term 

9 workforce development in artificial intelligence, 

10 including broadening participation of underrep11 resented communities; and 

12 (E) to support an innovation ecosystem to 

13 work with industry to translate Center research 

14 into applications and products; and 

15 (2) a description of the anticipated long-term 

16 impact of such Center beyond the termination of 

17 support under this section. 

18 (e) SELECTION AND DURATION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Center established using a 

20 grant under this section may receive funding under 

21 this section for a period of 5 years. 

22 (2) EXTENSION.—Such a Center may apply for, 

23 and the Director may grant, an extension of a grant 

24 under this section for an additional 5-year period. 


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1 (3) TERMINATION.—The Director may termi2 nate for cause funding under this section for a Cen3 ter that underperforms. 

4 (f) FUNDING.—During each of fiscal years 2020 

5 through 2024, the amount provided each fiscal year for 

6 a Center established pursuant to this section through a 

7 grant under this section shall be $20,000,000. 

8 TITLE IV—DEPARTMENT OF EN9 ERGY ARTIFICIAL INTEL10 LIGENCE RESEARCH AND DE11 VELOPMENT PROGRAM 

12 SEC. 401. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ON AR13 TIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. 

14 (a) PROGRAM REQUIRED.—As a part of the Initia15 tive, the Secretary of Energy (in this section referred to 

16 as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall carry out a research and develop17 ment program on artificial intelligence. 

18 (b) COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the program re19 quired under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 

20 (1) formulate objectives for research on artifi21 cial intelligence to be supported by the Department 

22 of Energy that are consistent with the Initiative; 

23 (2) leverage the collective body of knowledge 

24 from existing research on artificial intelligence; 


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1 (3) coordinate research efforts on artificial in2 telligence that are funded through existing programs 

3 across the Department; 

4 (4) engage with other Federal agencies, re5 search communities, and potential users of informa6 tion produced under this section; 

7 (5) build, maintain, and, to the extent prac8 ticable, make available for use by academic, govern9 ment, and private sector researchers the computing 

10 hardware and software necessary to carry out the 

11 program; and 

12 (6) establish and maintain on an Internet 

13 website of the Department available to the public a 

14 resource center that— 

15 (A) provides current information and re16 sources on training programs for employment in 

17 artificial intelligence; and 

18 (B) otherwise serves as a resource for edu19 cational institutions, State and local workforce 

20 development boards, nonprofit organizations, 

21 and apprenticeship programs seeking to develop 

22 and implement training programs for employ23 ment in artificial intelligence. 

24 (c) RESEARCH CENTERS.— 


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1 (1) GRANTS.—In carrying out this section, the 

2 Secretary may award grants to eligible entities to es3 tablish and operate up to 5 artificial intelligence re4 search centers (in this subsection referred to as 

5 ‘‘Centers’’) for the purposes described in paragraph 

6 (3). 

7 (2) SELECTION.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

9 subparagraph (C), grants under this subsection 

10 shall be awarded through a competitive, merit11 reviewed process. 

12 (B) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of 

13 this subsection, an eligible entity is any entity 

14 as follows: 

15 (i) An institution of higher education. 

16 (ii) A relevant nonprofit organization. 

17 (iii) A State or local government. 

18 (iv) A National Laboratory or a feder19 ally funded research and development cen20 ter. 

21 (v) A consortium of entities that con22 sists of— 

23 (I) two or more entities specified 

24 in clauses (i) through (iv); or 


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1 (II) at least one entity specified 

2 in such clauses and a relevant private 

3 sector organization that is not a non4 profit organization. 

5 (C) NATIONAL SECURITY LABORATORY.— 

6 At least 1 of the grants under this subsection 

7 shall be awarded to a national security labora8 tory of the National Nuclear Security Adminis9 tration. 

10 (3) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Centers 

11 established under this subsection are— 

12 (A) to serve the needs of the Department 

13 and such academic, educational, and private 

14 sector entities as the Secretary considers appro15 priate; 

16 (B) to advance research and education in 

17 artificial intelligence and facilitate improvement 

18 in the competitiveness of the United States; and 

19 (C) to provide access to computing re20 sources to promote scientific progress and en21 able users from institutions of higher education, 

22 educational institutions, the National Labora23 tories, and industry— 

24 (i) to make scientific discoveries rel25 evant to research in artificial intelligence; 


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1 (ii) to conduct research to accelerate 

2 scientific breakthroughs in science and 

3 technology with respect to artificial intel4 ligence; 

5 (iii) to support research conducted 

6 under this section; and 

7 (iv) to increase the distribution of re8 search infrastructure and broaden the 

9 spectrum of students exposed to research 

10 in artificial intelligence at institutions of 

11 higher education (including emerging re12 search institutions). 

13 (4) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall en14 sure the coordination of, and avoid unnecessary du15 plication of, the activities of each Center with the ac16 tivities of— 

17 (A) other research entities of the Depart18 ment, including the Nanoscale Science Research 

19 Centers, the Energy Frontier Research Centers, 

20 and the Energy Innovation Hubs; and 

21 (B) industry. 

22 (5) DURATION.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any center selected and 

24 established under this section is authorized to 

25 carry out activities for a period of 5 years. 


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1 (B) EXTENSION.—Such a Center may 

2 apply for, and the Director may grant, an ex3 tension of a grant under this section for an ad4 ditional 5-year period. 

5 (C) TERMINATION.—Consistent with exist6 ing authorities of the Department, the Sec7 retary may terminate for cause a Center that 

8 underperforms during the performance period. 

9 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 

11 2020 through 2024 for the Department of Energy, 

12 $300,000,000 to be available for the Department to carry 

13 out this section. 

Æ 


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