‘‘(j) RESEARCH TO IMPROVE ENERGY PERMITTING 
PROCESSES.—In consultation with the Federal Permitting 
Improvement Steering Council established under section 
41002(a) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m–1(a)), the 
Secretary shall carry out research and development activi-
ties to evaluate the potential for utilizing artificial intel-
ligence to improve Federal permitting processes for en-
ergy-related projects, including critical materials (as such 
term is defined in section 7002 of title VII of division Z 
of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 
116–260; 30 U.S.C. 1606)) projects, by building tools to 
improve future reviews and analyzing data from past envi-
ronmental and other permitting reviews to inform more 
flexible and effective categorical exclusions. 
‘‘(k) RISK MANAGEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review 
agency policies for risk management in artificial in-
telligence related projects and issue, as necessary, 
policies and principles that are consistent with the 
framework developed under section 22A of the Na-
tional Institute of Standards and Technology Act 
(15 U.S.C. 278h–1(c)). 
‘‘(2) TAXONOMY.—The Secretary, in consulta-
tion with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 
Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intel-
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ligence, the Director of the National Security Agen-
cy, and the Director of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, shall develop a taxonomy 
of safety and security risks associated with artificial 
intelligence systems relevant to the missions of the 
Department. 
‘‘(l) STEM EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOP-
MENT.—As part of the program, the Secretary, in coordi-
nation with the Director of the National Science Founda-
tion, may develop the required workforce, and hire and 
train researchers to meet the rising demand for artificial 
intelligence talent, including by carrying out the following: 
‘‘(1) Providing training, grants, and research 
opportunities, including experiential learning experi-
ences for undergraduate and graduate students in 
advanced artificial intelligence systems. 
‘‘(2) Carrying out public awareness campaigns 
regarding artificial intelligence related career paths. 
‘‘(3) Assisting institutions of higher education 
to establish new degree and certificate programs in 
artificial intelligence-related disciplines. 
‘‘(m) ADMINISTRATION.— 
‘‘(1) RESEARCH SECURITY.—The activities au-
thorized under this section shall be applied in a 
manner consistent with subtitle D of title VI of the 
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Research and Development, Competition, and Inno-
vation Act (42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.). 
‘‘(2) CYBERSECURITY.—The Secretary shall en-
sure the integration of robust cybersecurity meas-
ures into all artificial intelligence research-to-deploy-
ment efforts authorized under this section to protect 
the integrity and confidentiality of collected and ana-
lyzed data. 
‘‘(3) ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.—Taking into 
account the guidance issued pursuant to section 
10343(c) of the Research and Development, Com-
petition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19052(c)), 
the Secretary shall issue guidance governing the eth-
ical, safe, and responsible conduct of research activi-
ties funded by the Department and performed at 
National Laboratories and user facilities. 
‘‘(n) DATA PRIVACY AND SHARING.—The Secretary 
shall review agency policies for data sharing with other 
public and private sector organizations and issue, as nec-
essary, policies and principles that are consistent with the 
standards and guidelines submitted under section 22A of 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act 
(15 U.S.C. 278h–1(e)). In addition, the Secretary shall 
establish a streamlined mechanism for approving research 
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projects or partnerships that require sharing sensitive 
public or private data with the Department. 
‘‘(o) PARTNERSHIPS.— 
‘‘(1) FEDERAL PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary 
may request, accept, and provide funds from other 
Federal departments and agencies, State, United 
States territory, local, or Tribal government agen-
cies, private sector for-profit entities, and nonprofit 
entities, to be available to the extent provided by ap-
propriations Acts, to support a research project or 
partnership carried out under this section. The Sec-
retary may not give any special consideration to any 
agency or entity in return for a donation. 
‘‘(2) PARTNERSHIPS
WITH
PRIVATE
ENTI-
TIES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
seek to establish partnerships with private com-
panies and nonprofit organizations in carrying 
out this section. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—In carrying out 
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall protect 
any information submitted to or shared by the 
Department consistent with applicable laws and 
regulations. 
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‘‘(p) STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.—In carrying out 
the activities authorized in this section, the Secretary shall 
carry out the following: 
‘‘(1) Collaborate with a range of stakeholders, 
including small businesses, institutes of higher edu-
cation, industry, and the National Laboratories. 
‘‘(2) Leverage the collective body of knowledge 
from existing artificial intelligence and machine 
learning research. 
‘‘(3) Engage with other Federal departments 
and agencies, research communities, and potential 
users of information produced under this section. 
‘‘(q) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro-
gram, the Secretary shall develop a strategic plan 
with specific short-term and long-term goals and re-
source needs to advance applications in artificial in-
telligence for science, energy, and national security 
to support the missions of the Department. The 
strategic plan shall be consistent with the following: 
‘‘(A) The 2023 National Laboratory work-
shop report entitled ‘Advanced Research Direc-
tions on AI for Science, Energy, and Security’. 
‘‘(B) The 2024 National Laboratory work-
shop report entitled ‘AI for Energy’. 
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‘‘(C) The strategic plan required under 
section 5103 of division E of this Act (15 
U.S.C. 9413). 
‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 
one year after the date of the enactment of this sec-
tion, the Director shall submit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee of Energy and 
Natural Resources of the Senate the strategic plan 
required under paragraph (1), and shall notify such 
committees of any substantial updates to such plan 
in subsequent years. 
‘‘(r) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM.—The 
term ‘artificial intelligence system’ has the meaning 
given such term in section 7223 of the Advancing 
American AI Act (40 U.S.C. 11301 note; Public 
Law 117–263). 
‘‘(2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘Department’ 
means the Department of Energy. 
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The term ‘eligible 
entities’ means any of the following: 
‘‘(A) An institution of higher education. 
‘‘(B) A National Laboratory. 
‘‘(C) A Federal research agency. 
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‘‘(D) A State research agency. 
‘‘(E) A nonprofit research organization. 
‘‘(F) A private sector entity. 
‘‘(G) A consortium of two or more entities 
described in subparagraphs (A) through (F). 
‘‘(4) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘Na-
tional Laboratory’ has the meaning given such term 
in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 
U.S.C. 15801). 
‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of Energy. 
‘‘(6) TESTBED.—The term ‘testbed’ means any 
platform, facility, or environment that enables the 
testing and evaluation of scientific theories and new 
technologies, including hardware, software, or field 
environments in which structured frameworks can be 
implemented to conduct tests to assess the perform-
ance, reliability, safety, and security of a wide range 
of items, including prototypes, systems, applications, 
artificial intelligence systems, instruments, computa-
tional tools, devices, and other technological innova-
tions. 
‘‘(s) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 
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out this section $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 
through 2030. 
‘‘SEC. 5502. ENSURING ENERGY SECURITY FOR DATA CEN-
TERS AND COMPUTING RESOURCES. 
‘‘Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to Con-
gress a report that includes the following: 
‘‘(1) An assessment of the following: 
‘‘(A) The growth of computing data cen-
ters and advanced computing electrical power 
load in the United States. 
‘‘(B) Potential risks of growth in com-
puting centers or growth in the required elec-
trical power to United States energy security 
and national security. 
‘‘(C) The extent to which emerging tech-
nologies, such as artificial intelligence and ad-
vanced computing, may impact hardware and 
software systems used at data and computing 
centers. 
‘‘(D) Cost, performance, reliability, avail-
ability, space requirements, emissions, and sup-
ply chain issues for current technologies, includ-
ing renewable diesel, natural gas, renewable 
natural gas, fuel cells, nuclear energy, battery 
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storage, enhanced geothermal, long-duration en-
ergy storage, and other potentially viable tech-
nologies available to support regional data cen-
ter expansion and for backup power. 
‘‘(2) Recommendations for the following: 
‘‘(A) Resources and capabilities that the 
Department may provide to promote access to 
energy resources by data centers, advanced 
computing hardware and algorithms, and artifi-
cial intelligence systems. 
‘‘(B) Policy changes to ensure domestic de-
ployment of data center and advanced com-
puting resources to prevent offshoring of 
United States data and resources. 
‘‘(C) Improving the energy efficiency of 
data centers, advanced computing hardware 
and algorithms, and artificial intelligence sys-
tems.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 2(b) of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act of 2021 (Public Law 
116–283) is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 5501 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 5502. Ensuring energy security for data centers and computing re-
sources.’’. 
Æ 
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