[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 211 (Thursday, November 2, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75276-75277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24216]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an 
agency of the United States Department of Commerce, in support of 
efforts to create safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI), is 
establishing the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium 
(``Consortium''). The Consortium will help equip and empower the 
collaborative establishment of a new measurement science that will 
enable the identification of proven, scalable, and interoperable 
techniques and metrics to promote development and responsible use of 
safe and trustworthy AI, particularly for the most advanced AI systems, 
such as the most capable foundation models. NIST invites organizations 
to provide letters of interest describing technical expertise and 
products, data, and/or models to enable the development and deployment 
of safe and trustworthy AI systems through the AI Risk Management 
Framework (AI RMF). This notice is the initial step for NIST in 
collaborating with non-profit organizations, universities, other 
government agencies, and technology companies to address challenges 
associated with the development and deployment of AI. Many of these 
challenges were identified under the Executive Order of October 30, 
2023 (The Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of 
Artificial Intelligence) and the NIST AI RMF Roadmap. Much of this 
research will center on evaluations of and approaches towards safer, 
more trustworthy AI systems. Participation in the consortium is open to 
all interested organizations that can contribute their expertise, 
products, data, and/or models to the activities of the consortium. 
Selected participants will be required to enter into a consortium 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NIST. At 
NIST's discretion, entities which are not permitted to enter into 
CRADAs pursuant to law may be allowed to participate in the Consortium 
pursuant to separate non-CRADA agreement.

DATES: The Consortium's collaborative activities will commence as soon 
as enough completed and signed letters of interest have been returned 
to address all the necessary components and capabilities, but no 
earlier than December 4, 2023. NIST will accept letters of interest to 
participate in this Consortium on an ongoing basis. NIST will announce 
the completion of the selection of participants and inform the public 
that it is no longer accepting letters of interest for this project at 
https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence/artificial-intelligence-safety-institute.

ADDRESSES: Completed letters of interest must be submitted via the 
letter of interest webform at https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence/artificial-intelligence-safety-institute, by email to 
[email protected], or via hardcopy to National Institute of Standards and 
Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8900, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. 
Organizations whose letters of interest are accepted in accordance with 
the process set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
notice will be asked to sign a consortium Cooperative Research and 
Development Agreement (CRADA) with NIST. A consortium CRADA template 
will be made available to qualifying applicants.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: J'aime Maynard, Consortia Agreements 
Officer, National Institute of Standards and Technology's Technology 
Partnerships Office, by telephone at (301) 975-8408, by mail to 100 
Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 2200, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, or by electronic 
mail to [email protected]. Please direct all media inquiries to 
Public Affairs Office (PAO), NIST via email at [email protected] or by 
phone at (301) 975-2762.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: NIST supports the United States in developing standards 
around emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and 
related systems. The NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) 
provides a foundational set of approaches for holistically assessing 
risk for the use of AI systems. However, in deploying this framework, 
specific improvements in our ability to evaluate and validate AI 
systems are necessary, as detailed in the AI RMF roadmap, available at 
https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework/roadmap-nist-artificial-intelligence-risk-management-framework-ai. In addition, The 
Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial 
Intelligence Executive Order articulated a broad set of priorities 
relevant to and directive of NIST's work related to AI safety and 
trust. NIST seeks to leverage the additional resources and capabilities 
made available through this consortium to meet the requirements of the 
Executive Order and fulfill those priorities in the future.
    Process: NIST is soliciting responses from all sources of relevant 
technical capabilities (see below) to enter into a consortium 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to provide 
technical expertise and products, data, and/or models to enable safe 
and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The Consortium 
will help enable the identification of proven, scalable, and 
interoperable techniques and metrics to promote development of 
trustworthy AI and its responsible use. The full project can be viewed 
at: https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence/artificial-intelligence-safety-institute. The project is in support of the AI RMF 
roadmap https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework/roadmap-nist-artificial-intelligence-risk-management-framework-ai and The Safe, 
Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence 
Executive Order.
    Interested parties can submit a letter of interest by visiting the 
project website at https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence/artificial-intelligence-safety-institute and completing the letter of 
interest webform; alternatively, parties can answer the questions 
detailed in LETTER OF INTEREST, below, and send via email or hardcopy 
(for reference, see ADDRESSES section above). NIST will contact 
interested parties if there are questions regarding the responsiveness 
of the letters of interest to the project objective or requirements 
identified below. NIST will select participants who have submitted 
complete letters of interest on a first

[[Page 75277]]

come, first served basis. There may be continuing opportunity to 
participate even after initial activity commences for participants who 
were not selected initially or have submitted the letter of interest 
after the selection process. Selected participants will be required to 
enter into a consortium CRADA with NIST. At NIST's discretion, entities 
which are not permitted to enter into CRADAs pursuant to law may be 
allowed to participate in the Consortium pursuant to separate non-CRADA 
agreement.
    Project Objective: Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and 
applications are growing at an unprecedented pace, changing our way of 
life, and having significant impacts on society and all sectors of the 
economy. Yet, the potential technical and societal benefits and risks 
of AI require much closer examination and a more complete 
understanding. Aligning AI with our societal norms and values and 
keeping the public safe requires a broad human-centered focus, specific 
policies, processes, and guardrails informed by community stakeholders 
across various levels of our society, and bold commitment from the 
public sector.
    To manage the broad risks of AI technologies, help to protect the 
public and our planet, reduce market uncertainties, and encourage even 
more extraordinary AI technological innovations, the National Institute 
of Standards and Technology (NIST) is expanding its AI measurement 
efforts by harnessing the broader community's interests and 
capabilities. NIST aims to help enable the identification of proven, 
scalable, and interoperable measurements and methodologies to promote 
development of trustworthy AI and its responsible use. This is a 
critical challenge at a pivotal time--not only for AI technologists but 
for society.
    Building upon its long track record of working with the private and 
public sectors and its history of reliable and practical measurement 
and standards-oriented solutions, NIST seeks research collaborators who 
can support this vital undertaking. Specifically, NIST looks to
     Create a convening space for collaborators to have an 
informed dialogue and enable sharing of information and knowledge
     Engage in collaborative research and development through 
shared projects
     Enable assessment and evaluation of test systems and 
prototypes to inform future AI measurement efforts
    To create a lasting approach for continued joint research and 
development, NIST will engage stakeholders via this consortium. The 
work of the consortium will be open and transparent and provide a hub 
for interested parties to work together in building and maturing a 
measurement science for Trustworthy and Responsible AI. Consortium 
members will be expected to contribute:
     Technical expertise in one or more of the following areas

 Data and data documentation
 AI Metrology
 AI Governance
 AI Safety
 Trustworthy AI
 Responsible AI
 AI system design and development
 AI system deployment
 AI Red Teaming
 Human-AI Teaming and Interaction
 Test, Evaluation, Validation and Verification methodologies
 Socio-technical methodologies
 AI Fairness
 AI Explainability and Interpretability
 Workforce skills
 Psychometrics
 Economic analysis
 Models, data and/or products to support and demonstrate 
pathways to enable safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) 
systems through the AI risk management framework
 Infrastructure support for consortium projects
 Facility space and handling of hosting consortium researchers, 
workshops and conferences

    This project is in service of the priorities and taskings defined 
in The Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial 
Intelligence Executive Order. Additionally, some of the outcomes of 
this project will be in support of research and development to advance 
the AI RMF roadmap (https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework/roadmap-nist-artificial-intelligence-risk-management-framework-ai). The consortium will be responsible for an array of 
efforts related to safe and trustworthy AI, including to:
    1. Develop new guidelines, tools, methods, protocols and best 
practices to facilitate the evolution of industry standards for 
developing or deploying AI in safe, secure, and trustworthy ways
    2. Develop guidance and benchmarks for identifying and evaluating 
AI capabilities, with a focus on capabilities that could potentially 
cause harm
    3. Develop approaches to incorporate secure-development practices 
for generative AI, including special considerations for dual-use 
foundation models, including
    a. guidance related to assessing and managing the safety, security, 
and trustworthiness of models and related to privacy-preserving machine 
learning;
    b. guidance to ensure the availability of testing environments
    4. Develop and ensure the availability of testing environments
    5. Develop guidance, methods, skills and practices for successful 
red-teaming and privacy-preserving machine learning
    6. Develop guidance and tools for authenticating digital content
    7. Develop guidance and criteria for AI workforce skills, including 
risk identification and management, test, evaluation, validation, and 
verification (TEVV), and domain-specific expertise
    8. Explore the complexities at the intersection of society and 
technology, including the science of how humans make sense of and 
engage with AI in different contexts
    9. Develop guidance for understanding and managing the 
interdependencies between and among AI actors along the lifecycle
    Requirements for Letters of Interest:
    Each responding organization's letter of interest should include 
the address, point of contact, and following information:
    1. The role(s) the organization will play in the consortium 
efforts.
    2. The specific expertise will they intend to bring to the 
consortium.
    3. The products, services, data, or other technical capabilities 
will they use in consortium activities.
    Letters of interest should not include proprietary information. 
NIST will not treat any information provided in response to this notice 
as proprietary information.
    NIST cannot guarantee that all submissions will be utilized, or the 
products proposed by respondents will be used in consortium activities. 
Each prospective participant will be expected to work collaboratively 
with NIST staff and other project participants under the terms of the 
consortium CRADA.

(Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3710a, 15 U.S.C. 278h-1, and 15 U.S.C. 272b 
and 272c)

Alicia Chambers,
NIST Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2023-24216 Filed 11-1-23; 8:45 am]
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