Dive summary:
- The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday released a “road map” to implement the Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology, Or FAST, initiative that aims to develop U.S. AI capabilities for scientific discovery, energy research, and national security.
- The program would be authorized by a $2.4 billion annual budget envelope over five years contained in the bipartisan plan. Department of Energy Artificial Intelligence Act. FAST The goal is to leverage the capabilities of DOE and its 17 national laboratories to “build the world’s most powerful integrated scientific AI systems,” the agency said.
- “A strong and accountable governance and compliance structure is needed to guide the use and applications of AI,” Paul DeCotis, a senior partner at business and technology consulting firm West Monroe, said in an email. “Government leadership with public input is welcome.”
Dive Overview:
FASST “will transform the vast repositories of scientific data produced at DOE user facilities to make them AI-enabled and build the next generation of highly energy-efficient AI supercomputers,” the agency said Tuesday.
The DOE released a pair of reports in April concluding AI can help manage the US power gridincluding reducing emissions and lowering costs, but also warning that AI could expose the country to a host of risks, including cyber or physical attacks on the network and supply chain compromises, if deployed “naively”.
Artificial intelligence “is an innovative technology that can help drive energy advancements and strengthen our national security,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a July 16 statement. “FASST builds on DOE’s role as steward of the nation’s advanced research and supercomputing infrastructure.”
According to a fact sheet distributed by the DOEThe initiative will focus on four related areas:
- Provide government, industry and scientific partners with ready-to-use datasets to train, test and validate AI models;
- Building the next generation of energy-efficient, AI-based supercomputing platforms and algorithms to leverage scientific computing with machine learning and digital infrastructure;
- Accelerating discovery in all branches of science And;
- Revolutionizing how DOE delivers on its science, energy, and security mission.
“Scientific discoveries accelerated by AI can lead to affordable batteries for electric vehicles, breakthroughs in fusion energy, new cancer drugs and help ensure our national security,” the agency said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, IW. Va., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a bill to advance the FASST initiative July 10. It requires the Secretary of Energy to report annually to Congress on the “progress, findings, and expenditures” of the initiative’s programs, and sets an annual budget of $2.4 billion over five years.
“As AI takes the world by storm, the United States must respond quickly and effectively before our adversaries do,” Manchin said in a statement. “Deploying our existing lab infrastructure and scientific expertise in AI instead of starting from scratch will also save taxpayer dollars and allow us to act quickly.”
The legislation also establishes a network of AI research hubs built on existing DOE infrastructure, calls for an AI “risk assessment and mitigation program” to assess security risks, and directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate rulemaking around the use of advanced computing to speed up the interconnection queuing process. The legislation also directs DOE to study the growing energy demands of data centers and AI.
The Electric Power Research Institute released a report in May concluding that data centers could consume 9% of U.S. electricity production by 2030or about double the amount consumed today. AI queries require about ten times more electricity than traditional internet searches, the report said.
“AI can be used to reduce energy consumption in data centers and advanced manufacturing operations by identifying new ways to process data and information,” said West Monroe’s DeCotis. “The department’s efforts should set a standard by which AI capabilities and uses can advance innovations and discoveries in the science, energy and natural security communities.”
