Bipartisan legislation offered by U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) would create a new federal prize program designed to spur innovation in the responsible development of artificial intelligence (AI).
“The impact that AI has already made on our country is promising, but the potential it holds hasn’t even scratched the surface,” Sen. Rounds said. “The ability to make headway in the fields of science, technology and especially health care will be revolutionary and could even lead to the cures of many diseases.”
The congressman on May 1 cosponsored the AI Grand Challenges Act of 2024, S. 4236, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) to direct the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an AI Grand Challenges Program.
Through the program, NSF would administer prize competitions to incentivize researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to use AI to address specific and measurable challenges that would benefit the United States and serve the public good, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.
“Grand challenges have proven successful in the ways to advance towards new scientific discoveries,” said Sen. Rounds. “AI advancements will improve the quality of life for all Americans. The sky is the limit.”
The bill would encourage participants to use AI to solve problems across sectors, including health, energy, environment, national security, materials science, and cybersecurity, and to address AI system-specific challenges, such as bias mitigation, content provenance and explainability, says the summary.
Additionally, S. 4236 would direct NSF to consult with relevant federal agencies to identify and select the specific challenges in which participants would compete, and require NSF to develop problem statements, targets, success metrics, and validation protocols for each challenge to evaluate submissions.
NSF also would be required to award prizes of at least $1 million for each competition, while a dedicated competition for achieving breakthroughs in cancer detection and treatment would award a prize of at least $10 million, the summary says.
“Grand challenges and prize competitions can encourage creative solutions to complex problems using science, technology, and innovation,” Sen. Booker said. “The time has come for a prize program to further encourage innovation in AI.”