[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4656-S4659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2314. Mr. MANCHIN (for himself, Ms. Murkowski, and Mr. Schumer)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S.
4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2025 for military
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes;
[[Page S4657]]
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of title X, add the following:
Subtitle I--Department of Energy AI
SEC. 1096. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the ``Department of Energy AI
Act''.
SEC. 1097. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the Department has a leading role to play in making the
most of the potential of artificial intelligence to advance
the missions of the Department relating to national security,
science, and energy (including critical materials);
(2) the 17 National Laboratories employ over 40,000
scientists, engineers, and researchers with decades of
experience developing world-leading advanced computational
algorithms, computer science research, experimentation, and
applications in machine learning that underlie artificial
intelligence;
(3) the NNSA manages the Stockpile Stewardship Program
established under section 4201 of the Atomic Energy Defense
Act (50 U.S.C. 2521), which includes the Advanced Simulation
and Computing program, that provides critical classified and
unclassified computing capabilities to sustain the nuclear
stockpile of the United States;
(4) for decades, the Department has led the world in the
design, construction, and operation of the preeminent high-
performance computing systems of the United States, which
benefit the scientific and economic competitiveness of the
United States across many sectors, including energy, critical
materials, biotechnology, and national security;
(5) across the network of 34 user facilities of the
Department, scientists generate tremendous volumes of high-
quality open data across diverse research areas, while the
NNSA has always generated the foremost datasets in the world
on nuclear deterrence and strategic weapons;
(6) the unrivaled quantity and quality of open and
classified scientific datasets of the Department is a unique
asset to rapidly develop frontier AI models;
(7) the Department already develops cutting-edge AI models
to execute the broad mission of the Department, including AI
models of the Department that are used to forecast disease
transmission for COVID-19, and address critical material
issues and emerging nuclear security missions;
(8) the AI capabilities of the Department will underpin and
jumpstart a dedicated, focused, and centralized AI program;
and
(9) under section 4.1(b) of Executive Order 14110 (88 Fed.
Reg. 75191 (November 1, 2023)) (relating to the safe, secure,
and trustworthy development and use of artificial
intelligence), the Secretary is tasked to lead development in
testbeds, national security protections, and assessment of
artificial intelligence applications.
SEC. 1098. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) AI; artificial intelligence.--The terms ``AI'' and
``artificial intelligence'' have the meaning given the term
``artificial intelligence'' in section 5002 of the National
Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C.
9401).
(2) Alignment.--The term ``alignment'' means a field of AI
safety research that aims to make AI systems behave in line
with human intentions.
(3) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Energy, including the NNSA.
(4) Foundation model.--The term ``foundation model'' means
an AI model that--
(A) is trained on broad data;
(B) generally uses self-supervision;
(C) contains at least tens of billions of parameters; and
(D) is applicable across a wide range of contexts; and
(E) exhibits, or could be easily modified to exhibit, high
levels of performance at tasks that pose a serious risk to
the security, national economic security, or national public
health or safety of the United States.
(5) Frontier ai.--
(A) In general.--The term ``frontier AI'' means the leading
edge of AI research that remains unexplored and is considered
to be the most challenging, including models--
(i) that exceed the capabilities currently present in the
most advanced existing models; and
(ii) many of which perform a wide variety of tasks.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``frontier AI'' includes AI models
with more than 1,000,000,000,000 parameters.
(6) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory''
has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
(7) NNSA.--The term ``NNSA'' means the National Nuclear
Security Administration.
(8) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Energy.
(9) Testbed.--The term ``testbed'' means any platform,
facility, or environment that enables the testing and
evaluation of scientific theories and new technologies,
including hardware, software, or field environments in which
structured frameworks can be implemented to conduct tests to
assess the performance, reliability, safety, and security of
a wide range of items, including prototypes, systems,
applications, AI models, instruments, computational tools,
devices, and other technological innovations.
SEC. 1099. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH TO DEPLOYMENT.
(a) Program to Develop and Deploy Frontiers in Artificial
Intelligence for Science, Security, and Technology (FASST).--
(1) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a
centralized AI program to carry out research on the
development and deployment of advanced artificial
intelligence capabilities for the missions of the Department
(referred to in this subsection as the ``program''),
consistent with the program established under section 5501 of
the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 9461).
(2) Program components.--
(A) In general.--The program shall advance and support
diverse activities that include the following components:
(i) Aggregation, curation, and distribution of AI training
datasets.
(ii) Development and deployment of next-generation
computing platforms and infrastructure.
(iii) Development and deployment of safe and trustworthy AI
models and systems.
(iv) Tuning and adaptation of AI models and systems for
pressing scientific, energy, and national security
applications.
(B) Aggregation, curation, and distribution of ai training
datasets.--In carrying out the component of the program
described in subparagraph (A)(i), the Secretary shall develop
methods, platforms, protocols, and other tools required for
efficient, safe, and effective aggregation, generation,
curation, and distribution of AI training datasets,
including--
(i) assembling, aggregating, and curating large-scale
training data for advanced AI, including outputs from
research programs of the Department and other open science
data, with the goal of developing comprehensive scientific AI
training databases and testing and validation data;
(ii) developing and executing appropriate data management
plan for the ethical, responsible, and secure use of
classified and unclassified scientific data;
(iii) identifying, curating, and safely distributing, as
appropriate based on the application--
(I) scientific and experimental Departmental datasets; and
(II) sponsored research activities that are needed for the
training of foundation and adapted downstream AI models; and
(iv) partnering with stakeholders to curate critical
datasets that reside outside the Department but are
determined to be critical to optimizing the capabilities of
open-science AI foundation models, national security AI
foundation models, and other AI technologies developed under
the program.
(C) Development and deployment of next-generation computing
platforms and infrastructure.--In carrying out the component
of the program described in subparagraph (A)(ii), the
Secretary shall--
(i) develop early-stage AI testbeds to test and evaluate
new software, hardware, algorithms, and other AI-based
technologies and applications;
(ii) develop and deploy new energy-efficient AI computing
hardware and software infrastructure necessary for developing
and deploying trustworthy frontier AI systems that leverage
the high-performance computing capabilities of the Department
and the National Laboratories;
(iii) facilitate the development and deployment of
unclassified and classified high-performance computing
systems and AI platforms through Department-owned
infrastructure data and computing facilities;
(iv) procure high-performance computing and other resources
necessary for developing, training, evaluating, and deploying
AI foundation models and AI technologies; and
(v) use appropriate supplier screening tools available
through the Department to ensure that procurements under
clause (iv) are from trusted suppliers.
(D) Development and deployment of safe and trustworthy ai
models and systems.--In carrying out the component of the
program described in subparagraph (A)(iii), not later than 3
years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary
shall--
(i) develop innovative concepts and applied mathematics,
computer science, engineering, and other science disciplines
needed for frontier AI;
(ii) develop best-in-class AI foundation models and other
AI technologies for open-science and national security
applications;
(iii) research and deploy counter-adversarial artificial
intelligence solutions to predict, prevent, mitigate, and
respond to threats to critical infrastructure, energy
security, and nuclear nonproliferation, and biological and
chemical threats;
(iv) establish crosscutting research efforts on AI risks,
reliability, safety, trustworthiness, and alignment,
including the creation of unclassified and classified data
platforms across the Department; and
(v) develop capabilities needed to ensure the safe and
responsible implementation of AI in the private and public
sectors that--
(I) may be readily applied across Federal agencies and
private entities to ensure that open-science models are
released responsibly, securely, and in the national interest;
and
(II) ensure that classified national security models are
secure, responsibly-managed, and safely implemented in the
national interest.
(E) Tuning and adaptation of ai models and systems for
pressing scientific and
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national security applications.--In carrying out the
component of the program described in subparagraph (A)(iv),
the Secretary shall--
(i) use AI foundation models and other AI technologies to
develop a multitude of tuned and adapted downstream models to
solve pressing scientific, energy, and national security
challenges;
(ii) carry out joint work, including public-private
partnerships, and cooperative research projects with
industry, including end user companies, hardware systems
vendors, and AI software companies, to advance AI
technologies relevant to the missions of the Department;
(iii) form partnerships with other Federal agencies,
institutions of higher education, and international
organizations aligned with the interests of the United States
to advance frontier AI systems development and deployment;
and
(iv) increase research experiences and workforce
development, including training for undergraduate and
graduate students in frontier AI for science, energy, and
national security.
(3) Strategic plan.--In carrying out the program, the
Secretary shall develop a strategic plan with specific short-
term and long-term goals and resource needs to advance
applications in AI for science, energy, and national security
to support the missions of the Department, consistent with--
(A) the 2023 National Laboratory workshop report entitled
``Advanced Research Directions on AI for Science, Energy, and
Security''; and
(B) the 2024 National Laboratory workshop report entitled
``AI for Energy''.
(b) AI Research and Development Centers.--
(1) In general.--As part of the program established under
subsection (a), the Secretary shall select, on a competitive,
merit-reviewed basis, National Laboratories to establish and
operate not fewer than 8 multidisciplinary AI Research and
Development Centers (referred to in this subsection as
``Centers'')--
(A) to accelerate the safe and trustworthy deployment of AI
for science, energy, and national security missions;
(B) to demonstrate the use of AI in addressing key
challenge problems of national interest in science, energy,
and national security; and
(C) to maintain the competitive advantage of the United
States in AI.
(2) Focus.--Each Center shall bring together diverse teams
from National Laboratories, academia, and industry to
collaboratively and concurrently deploy hardware, software,
numerical methods, data, algorithms, and applications for AI
and ensure that the frontier AI research of the Department is
well-suited for key Department missions, including by using
existing and emerging computing systems to the maximum extent
practicable.
(3) Administration.--
(A) National laboratory.--Each Center shall be established
as part of a National Laboratory.
(B) Application.--To be eligible for selection to establish
and operate a Center under paragraph (1), a National
Laboratory shall submit to the Secretary an application at
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as
the Secretary may require.
(C) Director.--Each Center shall be headed by a Director,
who shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Center and an
employee of the National Laboratory described in subparagraph
(A), and responsible for--
(i) successful execution of the goals of the Center; and
(ii) coordinating with other Centers.
(D) Technical roadmap.--In support of the strategic plan
developed under subsection (a)(3), each Center shall--
(i) set a research and innovation goal central to advancing
the science, energy, and national security mission of the
Department; and
(ii) establish a technical roadmap to meet that goal in not
more than 7 years.
(E) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate, minimize
duplication, and resolve conflicts between the Centers.
(4) Funding.--Of the amounts made available under
subsection (h), each Center shall receive not less than
$30,000,000 per year for a duration of not less than 5 years
but not more than 7 years, which yearly amount may be renewed
for an additional 5-year period.
(c) AI Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Program.--
(1) AI risk program.--As part of the program established
under subsection (a), and consistent with the missions of the
Department, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary
of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, the Director
of National Intelligence, the Director of the National
Security Agency, and the Secretary of Commerce, shall carry
out a comprehensive program to evaluate and mitigate safety
and security risks associated with artificial intelligence
systems (referred to in this subsection as the ``AI risk
program'').
(2) Risk taxonomy.--
(A) In general.--Under the AI risk program, the Secretary
shall develop a taxonomy of safety and security risks
associated with artificial intelligence systems relevant to
the missions of the Department, including, at a minimum, the
risks described in subparagraph (B).
(B) Risks described.--The risks referred to in subparagraph
(A) are the abilities of artificial intelligence--
(i) to generate information at a given classification
level;
(ii) to assist in generation of nuclear weapons
information;
(iii) to assist in generation of chemical, biological,
radiological, nuclear, nonproliferation, critical
infrastructure, and energy security threats or hazards;
(iv) to assist in generation of malware and other cyber and
adversarial threats that pose a significant national security
risk, such as threatening the stability of critical national
infrastructure;
(v) to undermine public trust in the use of artificial
intelligence technologies or in national security;
(vi) to deceive a human operator or computer system, or
otherwise act in opposition to the goals of a human operator
or automated systems; and
(vii) to act autonomously with little or no human
intervention in ways that conflict with human intentions.
(d) Shared Resources for AI.--
(1) In general.--As part of the program established under
subsection (a), the Secretary shall identify, support, and
sustain shared resources and enabling tools that have the
potential to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and
technological innovation with respect to the missions of the
Department relating to science, energy, and national
security.
(2) Consultation.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the
Secretary shall consult with relevant experts in industry,
academia, and the National Laboratories.
(3) Focus.--Shared resources and enabling tools referred to
in paragraph (1) shall include the following:
(A) Scientific data and knowledge bases for training AI
systems.
(B) Benchmarks and competitions for evaluating advances in
AI systems.
(C) Platform technologies that lower the cost of generating
training data or enable the generation of novel training
data.
(D) High-performance computing, including hybrid computing
systems that integrate AI and high-performance computing.
(E) The combination of AI and scientific automation, such
as cloud labs and self-driving labs.
(F) Tools that enable AI to solve inverse design problems.
(G) Testbeds for accelerating progress at the intersection
of AI and cyberphysical systems.
(e) Administration.--
(1) Research security.--The activities authorized under
this section shall be applied in a manner consistent with
subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Development,
Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.).
(2) Cybersecurity.--The Secretary shall ensure the
integration of robust cybersecurity measures into all AI
research-to-deployment efforts authorized under this section
to protect the integrity and confidentiality of collected and
analyzed data.
(3) Partnerships with private entities.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall seek to establish
partnerships with private companies and nonprofit
organizations in carrying out this Act, including with
respect to the research, development, and deployment of each
of the 4 program components described in subsection
(a)(2)(A).
(B) Requirement.--In carrying out subparagraph (A), the
Secretary shall protect any information submitted to or
shared by the Department consistent with applicable laws
(including regulations).
(f) STEM Education and Workforce Development.--
(1) In general.--Of the amounts made available under
subsection (h), not less than 10 percent shall be used to
foster the education and training of the next-generation AI
workforce.
(2) AI talent.--As part of the program established under
subsection (a), the Secretary shall develop the required
workforce, and hire and train not fewer than 500 new
researchers to meet the rising demand for AI talent--
(A) with a particular emphasis on expanding the number of
individuals from underrepresented groups pursuing and
attaining skills relevant to AI; and
(B) including by--
(i) providing training, grants, and research opportunities;
(ii) carrying out public awareness campaigns about AI
career paths; and
(iii) establishing new degree and certificate programs in
AI-related disciplines at universities and community
colleges.
(g) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall submit to Congress
an annual report describing--
(1) the progress, findings, and expenditures under each
program established under this section; and
(2) any legislative recommendations for promoting and
improving each of those programs.
(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $2,400,000,000
each year for the 5-year period following the date of
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 1099A. FEDERAL PERMITTING.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a
program to improve Federal permitting processes for energy-
related projects, including critical materials projects,
using artificial intelligence.
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(b) Program Components.--In carrying out the program
established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall carry
out activities, including activities that--
(1) analyze data and provide tools from past environmental
and other permitting reviews, including by--
(A) extracting data from applications for comparison with
data relied on in environmental reviews to assess the
adequacy and relevance of applications;
(B) extracting information from past site-specific analyses
in the area of a current project;
(C) summarizing key mitigation actions that have been
successfully applied in past similar projects; and
(D) using AI for deeper reviews of past determinations
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to inform more flexible and effective
categorical exclusions; and
(2) build tools to improve future reviews, including--
(A) tools for project proponents that accelerate
preparation of environmental documentation;
(B) tools for government reviewers such as domain-specific
large language models that help convert geographic
information system or tabular data on resources potentially
impacted into rough-draft narrative documents;
(C) tools to be applied in nongovernmental settings, such
as automatic reviews of applications to assess the
completeness of information; and
(D) a strategic plan to implement and deploy online and
digital tools to improve Federal permitting activities,
developed in consultation with--
(i) the Secretary of the Interior;
(ii) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to National
Forest System land;
(iii) the Executive Director of the Federal Permitting
Improvement Steering Council established by section 41002(a)
of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m-1(a)); and
(iv) the heads of any other relevant Federal department or
agency, as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
SEC. 1099B. RULEMAKING ON AI STANDARDIZATION FOR GRID
INTERCONNECTION.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall
initiate a rulemaking to revise the pro forma Large Generator
Interconnection Procedures promulgated pursuant to section
35.28(f) of title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or
successor regulations), to require public utility
transmission providers to share and employ, as appropriate,
queue management best practices with respect to the use of
computing technologies, such as artificial intelligence,
machine learning, or automation, in evaluating and processing
interconnection requests, in order to expedite study results
with respect to those requests.
SEC. 1099C. ENSURING ENERGY SECURITY FOR DATACENTERS AND
COMPUTING RESOURCES.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that--
(1) assesses--
(A) the growth of computing data centers and advanced
computing electrical power load in the United States;
(B) potential risks of growth in computing centers or
growth in the required electrical power to United States
energy and national security; and
(C) the extent to which emerging technologies, such as
artificial intelligence and advanced computing, may impact
hardware and software systems used at data and computing
centers; and
(2) provides recommendations for--
(A) resources and capabilities that the Department may
provide to promote access to energy resources by data centers
and advanced computing;
(B) policy changes to ensure domestic deployment of data
center and advanced computing resources prevents offshoring
of United States data and resources; and
(C) improving the energy efficiency of data centers,
advanced computing, and AI.
SEC. 1099D. OFFICE OF CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY.
(a) In General.--Title II of the Department of Energy
Organization Act is amended by inserting after section 215
(42 U.S.C. 7144b) the following:
``SEC. 216. OFFICE OF CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Critical and emerging technology.--The term `critical
and emerging technology' means--
``(A) advanced technology that is potentially significant
to United States competitiveness, energy security, or
national security, such as biotechnology, advanced computing,
and advanced manufacturing;
``(B) technology that may address the challenges described
in subsection (b) of section 10387 of the Research and
Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C.
19107); and
``(C) technology described in the key technology focus
areas described in subsection (c) of that section (42 U.S.C.
19107).
``(2) Department capabilities.--The term `Department
capabilities' means--
``(A) each of the National Laboratories (as defined in
section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C.
15801)); and
``(B) each associated user facility of the Department.
``(3) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
Critical and Emerging Technology described in subsection (d).
``(4) Office.--The term `Office' means the Office of
Critical and Emerging Technology established by subsection
(b).
``(b) Establishment.--There shall be within the Office of
the Under Secretary for Science and Innovation an Office of
Critical and Emerging Technology.
``(c) Mission.--The mission of the Office shall be--
``(1) to work across the entire Department to assess and
analyze the status of and gaps in United States
competitiveness, energy security, and national security
relating to critical and emerging technologies, including
through the use of Department capabilities;
``(2) to leverage Department capabilities to provide for
rapid response to emerging threats and technological surprise
from new emerging technologies;
``(3) to promote greater participation of Department
capabilities within national science policy and international
forums; and
``(4) to inform the direction of research and policy
decisionmaking relating to potential risks of adoption and
use of emerging technologies, such as inadvertent or
deliberate misuses of technology.
``(d) Director of Critical and Emerging Technology.--The
Office shall be headed by a director, to be known as the
`Director of Critical and Emerging Technology', who shall--
``(1) be appointed by the Secretary; and
``(2) be an individual who, by reason of professional
background and experience, is specially qualified to advise
the Secretary on matters pertaining to critical and emerging
technology.
``(e) Collaboration.--In carrying out the mission and
activities of the Office, the Director shall closely
collaborate with all relevant Departmental entities,
including the National Nuclear Security Administration and
the Office of Science, to maximize the computational
capabilities of the Department and minimize redundant
capabilities.
``(f) Coordination.--In carrying out the mission and
activities of the Office, the Director--
``(1) shall coordinate with senior leadership across the
Department and other stakeholders (such as institutions of
higher education and private industry);
``(2) shall ensure the coordination of the Office of
Science with the other activities of the Department relating
to critical and emerging technology, including the transfer
of knowledge, capabilities, and relevant technologies, from
basic research programs of the Department to applied research
and development programs of the Department, for the purpose
of enabling development of mission-relevant technologies;
``(3) shall support joint activities among the programs of
the Department;
``(4) shall coordinate with the heads of other relevant
Federal agencies operating under existing authorizations with
subjects related to the mission of the Office described in
subsection (c) in support of advancements in related research
areas, as the Director determines to be appropriate; and
``(5) may form partnerships to enhance the use of, and to
ensure access to, user facilities by other Federal agencies.
``(g) Planning, Assessment, and Reporting.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of the Department of Energy AI Act, the
Secretary shall submit to Congress a critical and emerging
technology action plan and assessment, which shall include--
``(A) a review of current investments, programs,
activities, and science infrastructure of the Department,
including under National Laboratories, to advance critical
and emerging technologies;
``(B) a description of any shortcomings of the capabilities
of the Department that may adversely impact national
competitiveness relating to emerging technologies or national
security; and
``(C) a budget projection for the subsequent 5 fiscal years
of planned investments of the Department in each critical and
emerging technology, including research and development,
infrastructure, pilots, test beds, demonstration projects,
and other relevant activities.
``(2) Updates.--Every 2 years after the submission of the
plan and assessment under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall
submit to Congress--
``(A) an updated emerging technology action plan and
assessment; and
``(B) a report that describes the progress made toward
meeting the goals set forth in the emerging technology action
plan and assessment submitted previously.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for the
Department of Energy Organization Act (Public Law 95-91; 91
Stat. 565; 119 Stat. 764; 133 Stat. 2199) is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 215 the
following:
``Sec. 216. Office of Critical and Emerging Technology.''.
______