Creating $2.6B National AI Research Capability.
The Biden White House has announced the release of a final report outlining a three-year plan to build a National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR). The NAIRR is envisioned to be shared AI research infrastructure for public use, costing $2.6 billion over six years. The plan calls for a four-phased approach over three years to create a “democratized” AI infrastructure for students and researchers to tap. It’ll provide access to both governmental and nongovernmental data resources.
The current state of AI research is limited to “well-resourced” entities, and countries like China are seeing technological achievements due to long-term investments in AI research. This has led to a disparity in availability of AI research resources, affecting the quality and character of the U.S. AI innovation ecosystem.
The report outlined the type of infrastructure that will be needed for the NAIRR, including conventional servers, computing clusters, high-performance computing, and cloud computing. Additionally, a supercomputer capable of training 1 trillion-parameter models is required.
The NAIRR is expected to cost $2.6 billion over its initial six-year period, with new $750 million investments every two years to keep NAIRR resources in a state-of-the-art condition. An operating entity should be a distinct, non-government organization and resource providers can be commercial entities. Private entities can compete to become resource providers and can get funding or make a swap to gain access to NAIRR resources.
The report was developed by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force, consisting of 12 leading experts appointed by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and National Science Foundation (NSF). The research effort was kicked off by the National AI Initiative Act of 2020. The NAIRR is expected to provide greater access to AI research resources and help reduce the disparity in availability of AI research resources, allowing the U.S. to keep up with other countries in terms of AI innovation.
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