[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4674-S4676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2345. Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Rounds, and Mr.
Heinrich) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the
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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; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1095. 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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