The hope is that the new group, which is expected to include leaders from the private and public sectors, will play a part in cultivating the technology — while also clamping down on its challenges.

The new working group will focus on several objectives related to generative AI, including developing new ways to evaluate and measure the technology’s effectiveness. The group will also help create guidance for using NIST’s AI risk management framework, which was crafted to inform the development of the technology.

Eventually, the group is expected to analyze how generative AI tools could help address some of the biggest challenges facing the country today, including climate change, according to a press release released by NIST on Thursday.

“This new group is especially timely considering the unprecedented speed, scale and potential impact of generative AI and its potential to revolutionize many industries and society more broadly,” Laurie E. Locascio, NIST director and Commerce undersecretary for standards and technology, said in a statement. “We want to identify and develop tools to better understand and manage those risks, and we hope to attract broad participation in this new group.”

The creation of the group represents he latest in the Biden administration’s AI agenda, which seeks to balance the opportunities and challenges created by the technology. The president met with AI experts earlier this week, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his plan to regulate — and develop — AI on Wednesday.

The National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, which was created by NIST last year, released its first report on Thursday, as well.

The post NIST launches public working group aimed at generative AI appeared first on FedScoop.

Scientists and subject matter experts from the State Department, the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also attended the event and met with Taiwan National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Tsung-Tsong Wu and Taiwan NSTC Executive Director Jiunn Sheen.

Topics discussed by representatives from both nations ranged from semiconductor research, biotechnology and cancer research to environmental modeling and diversity and inclusion.

The meetings were part of the first U.S.-Taiwan Science and Technology Cooperation Dialogue, which was convened following a science and technology agreement between the two countries that was signed in 2020 to boost research cooperation.

In response to concerns over China’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. government has sought to maintain close relations with Taiwan, including through initiatives to support economic and technological development.

The two governments in recent years have established new partnerships in areas including economic prosperity, infrastructure, finance, education, women’s rights, and science and technology.

In February last year, the White House released a new Indo-Pacific Strategy, and both countries have since agreed to host an annual technology forum to set out specific research priorities.

The United States and South Korea have coordinated tech policy on a formal basis since at least the 1990s when the two countries created the Technology Cooperation Subcommittee to facilitate collaboration in the policy area. That subcommittee was established nearly 40 years after the two countries signed the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty.

The post NIST, NSF scientists meet Taiwan officials at first tech cooperation event appeared first on FedScoop.

When implemented, the revised guidelines will govern how federal agencies handle the type of information known as controlled unclassified information (CUI).

All federal departments as well as federal contractors and subcontractors handling government data are required to follow the standards set by NIST.

According to Ron Ross, NIST fellow and one of the publication’s authors, the update is intended to provide more consistent information security guidelines to members of the defense industrial base and other government contractors.

“Many of the newly added requirements specifically address threats to CUI, which recently has been a target of state-level espionage,” he said. “We want to implement and maintain state-of-the-practice defenses because the threat space is changing constantly.”

Ross added: “We tried to express those requirements in a way that shows contractors what we do and why in federal cybersecurity. There’s more useful detail now with less ambiguity.” 

While controlled unclassified information is below the threshold of classified information, federal agencies have introduced new measures in recent years to better protect it. Notably, the DOD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, once it takes effect, will require any defense contractors that handle CUI to meet certain NIST cybersecurity standards. And similar regimes could be coming to civilian agencies soon.

Last month the DOD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program leader Stacy Bostjanick said a new Federal Acquisition Regulation rule would implement NIST’s special publication 800-171 and 800-172. The draft guidance published today is the third iteration of 800-171.

NIST is requesting public comments on the draft guidelines by July 14.

The post NIST issues new draft guidance on handling sensitive information appeared first on FedScoop.

In a statement issued on May 1, the Biden administration said it was seeking to advance its understanding of the design, deployment, prevalence and technology.

Responses to the RFI will be used by the administration to inform new policy responses as it works to formulate a comprehensive response to the wider use of technologies including artificial intelligence.

It said: “Employers are increasingly investing in technologies that monitor and track workers, and making workplace decisions based on that information. According to an investigation by The New York Times last year, eight of the 10 largest private U.S. employers tracked individual workers to assess their productivity.”

According to the White House, examples of the use of the technology to track staff include nurses being required to wear RFID badges to track their location and proximity to other hospital workers or patients, and rideshare and delivery drivers having their speed, location and acceleration monitored.

Interested parties have until June 15 to submit responses to the RFI, and can also email the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy directly at workersurveillance@ostp.eop.gov.

The new initiative comes after four major federal agencies last week announced a joint crack-down on the use of artificial intelligence tools that perpetuate bias and discrimination.

That action followed the publication of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, which was published in January, and the Biden administration’s AI ‘Bill of Rights’ document, which was issued in October.

The post White House wants to understand how employers use automated tools to track staff appeared first on FedScoop.

The Department of Commerce agency through the new research office will operate a tracker to follow AI standards being implemented around the world and a metrics hub for testing new technology. The resources will be available to stakeholders from industry, government and academia.

According to NIST, the new Trustworthy and Responsible AI Resource Center (AIRC) will speed the adoption of its AI Risk Management Framework, which was published earlier this year.

The new resource center will also be a repository for NIST technology and policy documents, as well as for NIST-funded external resources relating to trustworthy and responsible AI. The center was launched during the White House Summit for Democracy Tuesday.

NIST launches the new resource center as the Biden administration works to examine how best to regulate the use of AI technology within federal and state governments and across wider society.

The agency’s AI Risk Management Framework represented a baseline document that set out some “rules of the road” that technical advisers hope will be adopted by government departments and private sector companies.

The final framework came after NIST last year sought feedback on two draft versions of the document.

In January, the task force charged with creating a roadmap for the future of AI research in the United States issued a final report in which it requested $2.6 billion from lawmakers to support research into the technology over an initial six-year period.

The post NIST launches new trustworthy artificial intelligence resource center appeared first on FedScoop.

Senior leaders at the Department of Commerce agency on Monday announced the new program at an event at its National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Maryland.

The launch of the initiative comes after the Biden administration last week issued a new National Cyber Strategy, which sought to “fundamentally reimagine” America’s cyber social contract, notably by shifting the responsibility for maintaining the security of computer systems away from consumers and small businesses onto larger software makers.

The program is intended to foster greater collaboration between NIST and small enterprises that both provide and consume cybersecurity services. Senior officials say it is expected to help improve the two-way sharing of information and best practices that has formed a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s cybersecurity policy.

Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves at the event underscored the importance of NIST’s relationship with the private sector and its work to provide business owners with clear, actionable cybersecurity guidance.

“NIST’s small business community of interest, which will not just include but go beyond activities that fall under NCCoE’s cybersecurity connections effort, aims to better reflect smaller companies’ needs – the interests and capabilities that they have – in all of NIST’s cybersecurity activities,” he said.

Graves added: “So smaller businesses that participate in this effort will inform NIST’s decisions about its broad portfolio of cybersecurity activities to ensure that they are as relevant and effective as ever. Again, practical solutions – solutions that actually work for companies, for communities all across the country. Whether you’re here in Montgomery County, you’re in Idaho, you’re in rural Alaska … doesn’t really matter. They will help to ensure that NIST guidance is both meaningful and practical for the smaller companies and other organizations to put into use.”

During the event, NCCoE Deputy Director Natalia Martin called on small businesses to use the new initiative to engage with the center and said it would acknowledge and be receptive to any input it receives.

“You have the opportunity to make your voice heard, and we will always respond to you … please take advantage of this opportunity,” Martin said. “Every single project we do, we ask [the question]: What does this mean for small business?”

NIST also during the event celebrated the renewal of a collaborative partnership between the agency’s Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, the state of Maryland and Montgomery County. It represents the extension of a three-way partnership that was first signed when the center was launched in 2012, with the intention of helping to accelerate cybersecurity research and development while ensuring local businesses and communities benefit from related innovation.

The post NIST launches cybersecurity community of interest for small businesses appeared first on FedScoop.

In a final report published Tuesday, the National AI Research Resource Task Force included the estimated figure, which it said would be used to support research over an initial six-year period.

As well as setting out a budget, the widely anticipated document included other principles, including that a single agency should act as the administrative home for the shared computing resources for national AI research and that a steering committee is appointed to oversee operations.

Publication of the final report comes ahead of the latest iteration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI risk management framework, which will be issued Thursday morning.

Of the total $2.6 billion figure, the task force expects $2.25 billion to come from appropriations requested by multiple federal agencies.

The report said: “The task force estimated this budget based on recent costs of advanced computing resources as well as data, training, and software resources; estimates of usage levels to meet the current needs of the AI R&D community; and expected growth of the AI R&D community.”

In addition, the task force is seeking an additional $750 million investment every two years to ensure that NAIRR resources remain up to date. It is also requesting between $55 million and $65 million each year for operational activities.

The report says also that NAIRR should set the standard for responsible AI research through the design and implementation of its governance processes. Implementation of the plan should occur in four phases, according to the document.

The final report is a culmination of the task force’s 18-month effort to develop a vision and implementation plan for establishing the research resource. It builds on the findings of an interim report that was published in May last year.

In that interim report, the committee recommended that the resource should consist of on-premise and commercial computational services like conventional compute; computing clusters; and high-performance, cloud and edge computing.

The post National AI Task Force seeks $2.6B from Congress for research and development appeared first on FedScoop.

Speaking Tuesday at ACT-IAC’s Imagine Nation ELC, Sonny Hashmi called for work to pinpoint code with national security implications to begin, even as certain critical software definitions continue to evolve.

He said: “[I]t’s important for us to start to think about what parts of our product suites — many of the products that your companies build and make available — are considered critical software. 

“That definition is not always clear, although NIST has done an incredible amount of work to start defining what critical software looks like, but we have to be very thoughtful about what that critical software is. It’s the equivalent of the critical infrastructure that we rely on in our society.”

The procurement leader added: “This software is embedded at the network level; it has elevated access. We rely on that software to keep us secure and keep us operating. We need to make sure that we start with that sub-set of software first. Make sure that we put all the right eyes on that and then scale it to other categories of software.”

Hashmi’s comments come as GSA, NIST and CISA lead work across federal government to provide clearer cyber supply chain guidance to vendors.

Following new cybersecurity guidelines issued last month by the Biden administration, CISA is working with the Office of Management and Budget to create a “common form” that U.S. departments will use to show that software vendors have attested the technology they are selling to the government meets NIST security guidelines.

Under that new guidance from OMB, federal departments must ensure that all third-party IT software deployed adheres to NIST supply chain security requirements and get proof of conformance from vendors.

Following the cybersecurity executive order, issued by the White House in May 2021, NIST published an initial, wide-ranging definition of critical software.

The post Pinpointing critical software key to supply chain security, says Federal Acquisition Service leader appeared first on FedScoop.

Under the guidance, federal departments must ensure that all third-party IT software deployed adheres to National Institute of Standards and Technology supply chain security requirements and get proof of conformance from vendors.

The memo represents the latest policy initiative from the White House as the executive branch works to rapidly improve cybersecurity standards across federal agencies. FedScoop previously reported details of the forthcoming guidance, which has raised concern among technology industry leaders.

The Biden administration has introduced an array of new measures to ensure agencies modernize their cyber defenses and implement zero-trust architectures since the publication of its cybersecurity executive order in May 2021.

This June, industry executives canvassed by FedScoop expressed a strong preference that the White House pursue a self-attestation requirement rather than a third-party verification process along the lines of the Pentagon’s troubled Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification.

According to the new memo from the Office of Management and Budget, federal agencies within 90 days will have to inventory all software and create a separate inventory for critical software.

Within 120 days of the memo, agencies must also develop a consistent process for communicating relevant requirements and collect letters of attestation from software providers.

OMB will enforce the new guidance and manage extension requests for the implementation timeframe. It will also work with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the General Services Administration to establish requirements for a central repository for software attestations and artifacts.

A copy of the new memo was first obtained by The Washington Post.

The post White House cyber memo compels vendors to attest software meets security standards appeared first on FedScoop.

According to the agency, the deal is intended to boost public and private innovation by establishing a legal framework that eliminates license fees for the technology.

Under the agreement, NIST will create up to 40 different circuit designs for chips optimized for different applications in partnership with universities including the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Brown University and Carnegie Mellon University.

Securing the chip production supply chain and ensuring researchers have access to the technology needed for path-breaking research remains a core priority for the Biden administration. Last month President Biden signed an executive order to implement the funding for semiconductor technology included in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

The new chips will be paid for by Google and will be manufactured by Skywater Technology in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The R&D agreement is intended to support innovation by university and startup researchers, for whom the cost of developing such chips can often be prohibitive. NIST’s circuit designs will be open source, meaning that academic and small business researchers can use the chips without restriction or licensing fees.

Commenting on the new agreement, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Laurie Locascio said: “By creating a new and affordable domestic supply of chips for research and development, this collaboration aims to unleash the innovative potential of researchers and startups across the nation.” She added: “This is a great example of how government, industry and academic researchers can work together to enhance U.S. leadership in this critically important industry.”

According to DOC, the new chip designs will provide bottom-layer chips with specialized structures for measuring and testing the performance of components placed on top of it. This includes new kinds of memory devices, nano-sensors, bioelectronics, and advanced devices needed for artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Google Public Sector CEO Will Grannis said: “Moving to an open-source framework fosters reproducibility, which helps researchers from public and private institutions iterate on each other’s work. It also democratizes innovation in nanotechnology and semiconductor research.”

The new chips will be produced as 200-millimeter discs of patterned silicon, which universities and other purchasers can then dice into thousands of individual chips at their own processing facilities.

Universities that will work with NIST on the chip designs include the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Brown University and Carnegie Mellon University.

The latest agreement comes after SkyWater Technology earlier this year received a $15 million infusion from the Department of Defense to develop an open-source design for a 90 nanometer fully depleted silicon on insulator technology. 

The post NIST and Google sign agreement to produce open-source chips appeared first on FedScoop.