[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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