The NSF AI Education Act of 2024, introduced Thursday by Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., supports investments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, part of an effort to “help make certain the U.S. is an AI leader in the next century,” Moran said in a press release. 

The legislation would not only authorize NSF to grant fellowships and scholarships within AI and quantum education — along with awarding fellowships for professional development — but would also allow the agency to conduct an outreach campaign throughout the nation that increases awareness of its educational opportunities. The campaign would prioritize outreach to “rural and underserved areas,” per the bill summary.

“Demand for AI expertise is already high and will continue to grow,” Cantwell said in the release. “This bill will open doors to AI for students at all levels and upskill our workforce to drive American tech innovation entrepreneurship and progress in solving the toughest global challenges.”

The bill would also direct NSF to create publicly available playbooks about introducing AI into classrooms for pre-K through 12th-grade students, with “consideration for rural and economically depressed areas.”

NSF would also be granted authorization to hold a grand challenge for AI education and training that would include strategies for upskilling 1 million workers in the United States. in AI-related areas by 2028. Bipartisan Senate legislation released earlier this month also charges NSF with administering a grand challenge, with $1 million prizes awarded for innovations in AI.   

The bill from Moran and Cantwell also calls for related frameworks that “promote increasing the number of women who receive AI education and training” and ensure that “rural areas of the United States are able to benefit from artificial intelligence education and training.”

“Artificial intelligence has tremendous potential, but it will require a skilled and capable workforce to unlock its capabilities,” Moran said. “If we want to fully understand AI and remain globally competitive, we must invest in the future workforce today.”

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Speaking at a FedScoop and General Dynamics Information Technology event, DOE Chief Information Officer Ann Dunkin shared that the agency is working on the securing of quantum technology as research and development progresses. 

Currently, DOE is working on fundamental research within the national labs to develop quantum capabilities, with five research centers dedicated specifically to quantum computing. These efforts also involve supporting commercial research and development within universities and with industry leaders. 

“The impact of quantum or encryption, that’s an area where we really need to be thinking very hard right now,” Dunkin said. “As soon as we can find some algorithms that will work, we’ll be attacking that problem. More importantly, the ability to accelerate our computing technology, especially to build better models and simulations, will allow us to advance a lot of technologies beyond what we can do today.”

Dunkin offered the example of how the department can build battery models to identify better materials. That would then lead to increased sustainability and better operational efficiencies, where storage systems and vehicles are concerned. 

“We’re going to buy products off the shelf, [and] we’re also developing new capabilities ourselves,” Dunkin said. “So there are times when we’re leading and we’re building and we’re not buying. Then there are times when we’re consuming those commodities.”

The next steps for DOE in harnessing emerging technologies and quantum is to identify the best opportunities that would fund new capabilities, Dunkin said. This means “broad bets” within the department’s research agenda, she said, and collaborating with partners in universities and investing in companies where DOE can assist in identifying the next technology. 

“It’s investments in quantum, it’s investments in AI and machine learning. You name it, we are going to look to make broad bets,” Dunkin said. “We have to remember that not every one of those bets will be successful. Every research project that fails is a learning opportunity.”

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The 36-0 vote sent the bill (H.R. 6213), co-sponsored by Science Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and ranking member Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to the House floor. The National Quantum Initiative, which was aimed at bolstering quantum research, expired Sept. 30. The reauthorization, the sponsors say, would build off the accomplishments of the 2018 law in an effort to ensure U.S. competitiveness against China and Russia.

“As China and Russia are actively making notable investments in quantum systems, we must maintain our momentum to secure our leadership position in this revolutionary field, and this bill does just that,” Lucas said in a statement after the markup.

Despite the 2018 legislation establishing the National Quantum Initiative as a 10-year program, its scientific activities were authorized for only five years, according to a June report from the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. That panel recommended continued and expanded support for the program beyond its original sunset in 2028. 

At a previous markup of the bill in November, the committee adopted 19 amendments, all of which were approved by voice vote. 

Those amendments included one from Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, to add language directing agencies to consider the use of AI and machine learning in quantum science, engineering and technology, and how quantum might be used to advance AI and other emerging technologies.

The committee also agreed to adopt an amendment that directs the National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science to “identify potential use cases with respect to which quantum computing could advance the missions of participating agencies, including through on-premises, cloud-based, hybrid, or networked approaches.” That amendment was offered by Reps. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., and Jay Obernolte, R-Calif.

Several amendments specifically expanded resources for the National Science Foundation, including two amendments for awards the agency would offer for quantum research. Those amendments were offered by Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Reps. Andrea Salinas, D-Ore., and Jim Baird, R-Ind., respectively. Another amendment from Reps. Obernolte and Haley Stevens, D-Mich., would strengthen NSF’s quantum testbed activities.

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The introduction of the bill by Science Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and ranking member Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., comes after the 2018 law expired Sept. 30 and, according to a release from the bill sponsors, builds off those accomplishments in an effort to ensure U.S. competitiveness against China and Russia. 

“There’s no time to lose momentum, and I’m confident this bill will empower the government, private sector, and academia to keep working together to advance leading-edge quantum systems,” Lucas said in the release.

The National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, among other things, includes provisions requiring the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a quantum research strategy with allies to compete with China and Russia, authorizing the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish three centers for quantum research, and authorizing the creation of a National Science Foundation hub to coordinate workforce pipelines.

It would also authorize the Department of Energy to support quantum foundry development in an effort to meet supply chain needs, and formally authorizes NASA’s quantum research and the creation of its own quantum institute.

Despite the National Quantum Initiative being set up as a 10-year effort, the 2018 bill authorized the centers for only five years, according to a June report from the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. That panel recommended support beyond the original sunset in 2028 and an expansion of the program, such as authorization of additional quantum-focused research centers.

“The 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act enabled the U.S. science and technology enterprise to progress tremendously in this critical technology,” Lofgren said in the release. “We must now build upon these original investments to ensure the United States can remain the world leader in quantum — this bill will do that and more.”

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Billed as the world’s first “multi-sovereign” venture capital fund involving 22 nations, it is intended to make long-term investments in startups and other entities developing emerging technologies that the alliance is interested in including artificial intelligence, autonomy, big-data processing, quantum-enabled technologies, biotechnology and human enhancement; novel materials; energy; propulsion and space.

“This fund is unique,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a signing ceremony at a summit in Madrid where alliance leaders inked a letter of commitment pledging to support the initiative. “With a 15-year timeframe, the NATO Innovation Fund will help bring to life those nascent technologies that have the power to transform our security in the decades to come, strengthening the Alliance’s innovation ecosystem and bolstering the security of our one billion citizens.”

The summit was attended by President Biden, his alliance counterparts and other world leaders.

Together with the new Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), the fund will help the alliance “harness the best new technology for transatlantic security,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference Wednesday. The DIANA initiative will provide innovators access to facilities that they can tap into, including more than 60 test centers across Europe and North America.

DIANA “will support NATO’s efforts to boost interoperability and ensure that every Ally has access to cutting-edge technological solutions for military needs,” according to a White House fact sheet released Wednesday.

The United States will contribute to that initiative by facilitating access to U.S. test centers and other technology “accelerator sites” in the “extensive and diverse U.S. innovation sector,” according to the White House.

During the summit, NATO also unveiled a new Strategic Concept that emphasized the need to adopt emerging technologies to improve the alliance’s defense capabilities.

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