Bipartisan Senate bill proposes $12B for DOE’s AI work to spur energy breakthroughs, other advances

Dive Brief:

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday published a “road map” to implement the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security, and Technology, or FASST, initiative, which aims to develop the United States’ AI capabilities for scientific discovery, energy research and national security.
The program would be authorized by a $2.4 billion annual appropriation over five years, contained in the bipartisan Department of Energy AI Act. FASST aims to leverage the capabilities of DOE and its 17 national laboratories to “build the world's most powerful integrated scientific AI systems,” the agency said.
“A sound and responsible governance and compliance structure guiding the use and applications of AI is necessary,” Paul DeCotis, senior partner at business and technology consulting firm West Monroe, said in an email. “Government leadership with public input is welcome.”

Dive Insight:

FASST will “transform the vast repositories of scientific data produced at DOE user facilities to be AI-ready and build the next-generation of highly energy efficient AI supercomputers,” the agency said Tuesday.

DOE in April published a pair of reports concluding AI can help manage the U.S. electric grid, including reducing emissions and lowering costs — but also warning that AI could expose the country to a host of risks, including cyber or physical grid attacks, and supply chain compromises, if deployed “naïvely.”

AI “is an innovative technology that can help unleash breakthroughs in energy technologies and enhance our national security,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a July 16 statement. “FASST builds on DOE's role as the nation's steward of advanced supercomputing and research infrastructure.”

According to a fact sheet distributed by DOE, the initiative will focus on four related areas:

Making AI-ready datasets available to government, industry and scientific community partners to train, test and validate AI models;
Building the next generation of energy efficient, AI-enabled supercomputing platforms and algorithms to leverage scientific computing with machine learning and digital infrastructure;
Accelerating discovery across all branches of science and;
Revolutionizing the way DOE delivers on its science, energy and security mission.

“AI-accelerated scientific discoveries can lead to affordable batteries for electric vehicles, breakthroughs in fusion energy, new cancer-fighting drugs, and help assure our national security,” the agency said.

Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W. Va., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced legislation to advance the FASST initiative on July 10. It requires the secretary of energy to report to Congress annually on the "progress, findings, and expenditures” of the initiative's programs, and sets an annual budget of $2.4 billion over five years.

“As AI technology takes the world by storm, the United States needs to meet the moment quickly and effectively before our adversaries do,” Manchin said in a statement. “Deploying our existing lab infrastructure and scientific expertise for AI instead of starting from scratch will also safeguard taxpayer dollars and allow for us to move quickly.”

The legislation also establishes a network of AI research clusters built on DOE’s existing infrastructure, calls for an AI “risk evaluation and mitigation program” to evaluate security risks, and directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate a rulemaking around the use of advanced computing to expedite the interconnection queue process. The legislation also directs DOE to study the growing energy demand of data centers and AI.

The Electric Power Research Institute in May published a report concluding data centers could consume 9% of the United States’ electricity generation by 2030, about double the amount consumed today. AI queries require about ten times the electricity of traditional internet searches, the report said.

“AI can be used to reduce energy use in data centers and advanced manufacturing streamlining operations identifying new ways of processing data and information,” West Monroe’s DeCotis said. “The Department’s efforts should set a standard by which AI capabilities and use can advance innovations and discoveries in scientific, energy and natural security communities.”