[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4236 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4236

    To authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation to 
 identify grand challenges and award competitive prizes for artificial 
                 intelligence research and development.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2024

 Mr. Booker (for himself, Mr. Rounds, and Mr. Heinrich) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation to 
 identify grand challenges and award competitive prizes for artificial 
                 intelligence research and development.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``AI Grand Challenges Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. PRIZE COMPETITIONS FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH AND 
              DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) Definition.--Except as otherwise expressly provided, in this 
section the term ``Director'' means the Director of the National 
Science Foundation.
    (b) Establishment of Program.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 12 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordination with the 
        Interagency Committee established under section 5103 of the 
        National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 
        U.S.C. 9413), shall establish a program to award prizes, 
        utilizing the authorities and processes established under 
        section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 
        1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), to eligible participants as determined 
        by the Director pursuant to subsection (e) to stimulate 
        artificial intelligence research, development, and 
        commercialization that solves or advances specific, well-
        defined, and measurable grand challenges in 1 or more of the 
        following categories:
                    (A) National security.
                    (B) Cybersecurity.
                    (C) Health.
                    (D) Energy.
                    (E) Environment.
                    (F) Transportation.
                    (G) Agriculture and rural development.
                    (H) Education and workforce training.
                    (I) Manufacturing.
                    (J) Space and aerospace.
                    (K) Quantum computing, including molecular modeling 
                and simulation.
                    (L) Materials science.
                    (M) Supply chain resilience.
                    (N) Disaster preparedness.
                    (O) Natural resources management.
                    (P) Cross cutting challenges in artificial 
                intelligence, including robustness, interpretability, 
                explainability, transparency, safety, privacy, content 
                provenance, and bias mitigation.
            (2) Designation.--The grand challenges and prize 
        competition program established under paragraph (1) shall be 
        known as the ``AI Grand Challenges Program''.
            (3) Rotators.--Participants in the Rotator Program of the 
        National Science Foundation may support the development and 
        implementation of the AI Grand Challenges Program.
    (c) Grand Challenges Selection and Grand Challenges Information.--
            (1) In general.--
                    (A) Consultation on identification and selection.--
                The Director shall consult with the Director of the 
                Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Director 
                of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
                the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects 
                Agency, the heads of relevant Federal agencies, and the 
                National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee to 
                identify and select artificial intelligence research 
                and development grand challenges in which eligible 
                participants will compete to solve or advance for prize 
                awards under subsection (b).
                    (B) Public input on identification.--The Director 
                shall also seek public input on the identification of 
                artificial intelligence research and development grand 
                challenges.
            (2) Problem statements; success metrics.--For each grand 
        challenge selected under paragraph (1) and the grand challenge 
        under paragraph (3), the Director shall--
                    (A) establish a specific and well-defined grand 
                challenge problem statement and ensure that such 
                problem statement is published on the National Science 
                Foundation website linking out to relevant prize 
                competition listings on the website Challenge.gov that 
                is managed by the General Services Administration; and
                    (B) establish and publish on the website 
                Challenge.gov clear targets, success metrics, and 
                validation protocols for the prize competitions 
                designed to address each grand challenge, in order to 
                provide specific benchmarks that will be used to 
                evaluate submissions to the prize competition.
            (3) Grand challenge for artificial intelligence-enabled 
        cancer breakthroughs.--
                    (A) Required prize competition.--Not later than 1 
                year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
                Director, in consultation with the Director of the 
                Office of Science and Technology Policy and the 
                Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall 
                establish not less than 1 grand challenge in which 
                eligible participants will compete in a prize 
                competition to solve or advance solutions for prize 
                awards under subsection (b) that seek to advance 
                medical breakthroughs to address 1 or more of the most 
                lethal forms of cancer and related comorbidities. The 
                grand challenge shall relate to detection, diagnostics, 
                treatments, therapeutics, or other innovations in 
                artificial intelligence to increase the total quality-
                adjusted life years of those affected or likely to be 
                affected by cancer.
                    (B) Prize amount.--In carrying out the prize 
                competition under subparagraph (A), the Director shall 
                award not less than $10,000,000 in cash prize awards to 
                each winner.
            (4) Ambitious and achievable goals.--Grand challenges 
        selected under paragraph (1) and the grand challenge under 
        paragraph (3) shall be ambitious but achievable goals that 
        utilize science, technology, and innovation to solve or advance 
        solutions to problems to benefit the United States.
    (d) Additional Consultation.--The Director may consult with, and 
incorporate effective practices from, other entities that have 
developed successful large-scale technology demonstration prize 
competitions, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, other Federal 
agencies, private sector enterprises, and nonprofit organizations, in 
the development and implementation of the AI Grand Challenges Program 
and related prize competitions, including on the requirements under 
subsection (e).
    (e) Requirements.--
            (1) In general.--The Director shall develop requirements 
        for--
                    (A) the prize competition process, including 
                eligibility criteria for participants, consistent with 
                the requirements under paragraph (2); and
                    (B) testing, judging, and verification procedures 
                for submissions to receive a prize award under the AI 
                Grand Challenges Program.
            (2) Eligibility requirement and judging.--
                    (A) Eligibility.--In accordance with the 
                requirement described in section 24(g)(3) of the 
                Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 
                U.S.C. 3719(g)(3)), a recipient of a prize award under 
                the AI Grand Challenges Program--
                            (i) that is a private entity shall be 
                        incorporated in and maintain a primary place of 
                        business in the United States; and
                            (ii) who is an individual, whether 
                        participating singly or in a group, shall be a 
                        citizen or permanent resident of the United 
                        States.
                    (B) Judges.--In accordance with section 24(k) of 
                the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 
                (15 U.S.C. 3719(k)), a judge of a prize competition 
                under the AI Grand Challenges Program may be an 
                individual from the private sector.
    (f) Prize Amount.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the AI Grand Challenges 
        Program, the Director--
                    (A) shall award not less than $1,000,000 in cash 
                prize awards to each winner of the prize competitions, 
                except as provided in subsection (c)(3); and
                    (B) may also utilize non-cash awards.
            (2) Larger awards.--The Director may award prizes under the 
        AI Grand Challenges Program that are more than $50,000,000, 
        pursuant to the requirements under section 24(m)(4)(A) of the 
        Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 
        3719(m)(4)(A)).
    (g) Funding.--
            (1) In general.--In accordance with section 24(m)(1) of the 
        Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 
        3719(m)(1)), the Director may request and accept funds from 
        other Federal agencies, State, United States territory, local, 
        or Tribal government agencies, for-profit entities, and 
        nonprofit entities to support the AI Grand Challenges Program.
            (2) Prohibition on consideration for support.--The Director 
        may not consider any support provided by an agency or entity 
        under paragraph (1) in determining the winners of prize awards 
        under subsection (b).
    (h) Reports.--
            (1) Notification of winning submission.--Not later than 60 
        days after the date on which a prize is awarded under the AI 
        Grand Challenges Program, the Director shall submit to the 
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
        Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
        House of Representatives, and other relevant committees of 
        Congress a report that describes the winning submission to the 
        prize competition and its benefits to the United States.
            (2) Biennial report.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, and biennially 
                thereafter, the Director shall submit to the Committee 
                on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 
                the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 
                House of Representatives, and other relevant committees 
                of Congress a report that includes--
                            (i) a description of the activities carried 
                        out under this Act;
                            (ii) a description of the active 
                        competitions and the results of completed 
                        competitions under the AI Grand Challenges 
                        Program; and
                            (iii) efforts to provide information to the 
                        public about the AI Grand Challenges Program to 
                        encourage participation.
                    (B) Public accessibility.--The Director shall make 
                the biennial report required under subparagraph (A) 
                publicly accessible, including by posting the biennial 
                report on the website of the National Science 
                Foundation in an easily accessible location.
    (i) Accessibility.--In carrying out the AI Grand Challenges 
Program, the Director shall post the active prize competitions and 
available prize awards under subsection (b) to Challenge.gov after the 
grand challenges are selected and the prize competitions are designed 
pursuant to subsections (c) and (e) to ensure the prize competitions 
are widely accessible to eligible participants.
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