Biden administration forms new AI task force

The Biden administration on Thursday announced the formation of the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Resource Task Force, a group of 10 AI experts who will create a plan for giving AI researchers more access to data, computational resources, and other tools. 

Congress mandated the creation of the task force when it passed the National AI Initiative Act of 2020. The group will set up the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) -- shared research infrastructure that the White House says will "spur AI innovation and economic prosperity nationwide." The NAIRR will be designed for AI researchers and students across all scientific disciplines.

"By bringing together the nation's foremost experts from academia, industry, and government, we will be able to chart an exciting and compelling path forward, ensuring long-term US competitiveness in all fields of science and engineering and all sectors of our economy," NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a statement.

The new task force is comprised of AI experts from the public sector, private sector, and academia, including DefinedCrowd CEO Daniela Braga, Google Cloud AI chief Andrew Moore, and Stanford's Fei-Fei Li. Lynne Parker, assistant director of AI for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will co-chair the effort, along with Erwin Gianchandani, senior adviser at the National Science Foundation. 

The creation of the NAIRR is part of a broader effort from the US government to accelerate technological advances within the US. In 2019, for instance, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order to fast-track the development and regulation of AI in the US. And just this week, the US Senate approved the investment of $250 billion for scientific endeavors ranging from AI to quantum communications. The effort has been, in large part, spurred by the threat of China's rapidly developing AI capabilities.

To establish the NAIRR, the task force will provide guidance for technical capabilities, governance, administration, and assessment, as well as requirements for security, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. 

The group will present two reports to Congress in 2022, laying out its strategy. They'll also take public input on the effort. 

The rest of the task force includes Mark Dean, formerly of IBM and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville; the Allen Institute for AI's Oren Etzioni; Julia Lane, New York University; Michael Norman, University of California at San Diego; Dan Stanzione, University of Texas at Austin; Frederick Streitz, Department of Energy; Elham Tabassi, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Prior and related coverage:

• White House issues guidance for federal agencies on AI applications   
• Ethics of AI: Benefits and risks of artificial intelligence  
• Who leads the world on AI? A decade from now, it might not be the US   
• Data scientists: White House issues a call to arms  
  
• Trump signs another executive order on governmental AI development