Sec. 5501. Department of Energy Artificial Intelligence Research Program
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The Secretary shall carry out a cross-cutting research and development program to advance artificial intelligence tools, systems, capabilities, and workforce needs and to improve the reliability of artificial intelligence methods and solutions relevant to the mission of the Department. In carrying out this program, the Secretary shall coordinate across all relevant offices and programs at the Department, including the Office of Science, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of Nuclear Energy, the Office of Fossil Energy, the Office of Electricity, the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, and any other relevant office determined by the Secretary.
In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall award financial assistance to eligible entities to carry out research projects on topics including— the application of artificial intelligence systems to improve large-scale simulations of natural and other phenomena; the study of applied mathematics, computer science, and statistics, including foundations of methods and systems of artificial intelligence, causal and statistical inference, and the development of algorithms for artificial intelligence systems; the analysis of existing large-scale datasets from science and engineering experiments and simulations, including energy simulations and other priorities at the Department as determined by the Secretary using artificial intelligence tools and techniques; the development of operation and control systems that enhance automated, intelligent decisionmaking capabilities; the development of advanced computing hardware and computer architecture tailored to artificial intelligence systems, including the codesign of networks and computational hardware; the development of standardized datasets for emerging artificial intelligence research fields and applications, including methods for addressing data scarcity; and the development of trustworthy artificial intelligence systems, including— algorithmic explainability; analytical methods for identifying and mitigating bias in artificial intelligence systems; and safety and robustness, including assurance, verification, validation, security, and control.
In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall support technology transfer of artificial intelligence systems for the benefit of society and United States economic competitiveness. In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— make available high-performance computing infrastructure at national laboratories; make any upgrades necessary to enhance the use of existing computing facilities for artificial intelligence systems, including upgrades to hardware; establish new computing capabilities necessary to manage data and conduct high performance computing that enables the use of artificial intelligence systems; and maintain and improve, as needed, networking infrastructure, data input and output mechanisms, and data analysis, storage, and service capabilities.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall amend grant proposal instructions to include a requirement for an ethics statement to be included as part of any proposal for funding prior to making the award. Such statement shall be considered by the Secretary in the review of proposals, taking into consideration any relevant input from the peer-reviewers for the proposal, and shall factor into award decisions as deemed necessary by the Secretary.
Such statements may include, as appropriate— the potential societal benefits of the research; any foreseeable or quantifiable risks to society, including how the research could enable products, technologies, or other outcomes that could intentionally or unintentionally cause significant societal harm; and how technical or social solutions can mitigate such risks and, as appropriate, a plan to implement such mitigation measures. The Secretary shall issue clear guidance on what constitutes risks as described in section (1)(B), and to the extent practical harmonize this policy with existing ethical policies or related requirements for human subjects.
The Secretary shall encourage awardees to update their ethics statements as appropriate as part of the annual reports required by all awardees under the grant terms and conditions. The Secretary shall review agency policies for risk management in artificial intelligence related projects and issue as necessary policies and principles that are consistent with the framework developed under section 5301(b). The Secretary shall review agency policies for data sharing with other public and private sector organizations and issue as necessary policies and principles that are consistent with the standards and guidelines submitted under section 5301(c).
In addition, the Secretary shall establish a streamlined mechanism for approving research projects or partnerships that require sharing sensitive public or private data with the Department. The Secretary may request, accept, and provide funds from other Federal departments and agencies, State, United States territory, local, or Tribal government agencies, private sector for-profit entities, and nonprofit entities, to be available to the extent provided by appropriations Acts, to support a research project or partnership carried out under this section.
The Secretary may not give any special consideration to any agency or entity in return for a donation. In carrying out the activities authorized in this section, the Secretary shall— collaborate with a range of stakeholders including small businesses, institutes of higher education, industry, and the National Laboratories; leverage the collective body of knowledge from existing artificial intelligence and machine learning research; and engage with other Federal agencies, research communities, and potential users of information produced under this section.
In this section: The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy. The term Department means the Department of Energy. The term national laboratory has the meaning given such term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 ( 42 U.S.C. 15801 ). The term eligible entities means— an institution of higher education; a National Laboratory; a Federal research agency; a State research agency; a nonprofit research organization; a private sector entity; or a consortium of 2 or more entities described in subparagraph
(A)through (F). There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department to carry out this section $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2021.
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Sec. 5501
Department of Energy Artificial Intelligence Research Program
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