The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Transportation (DoT), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) just announced a new solicitation, titled National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes: Accelerating Research, Transforming Society, and Growing the American Workforce, with the goal to “significantly advance research in AI and accelerate the development of transformational, AI-powered innovation by allowing researchers to focus on larger-scale, longer-term research.”
The National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program anticipates approximately $120 million in grants next year to fund eight planning grants and up to six research institutes in order to advance AI research and create national nexus points for universities, federal agencies, industries, and nonprofits.
The Institute track will provide up to $20,000,000 in funding over five years per Institute. Proposals for the Institute track must have a principal focus in one or more of the following themes, detailed in the Program Description under “Institute Track”:
- Trustworthy AI;
- Foundations of Machine Learning;
- AI-Driven Innovation in Agriculture and the Food System;
- AI-Augmented Learning;
- AI for Accelerating Molecular Synthesis and Manufacturing; and
- AI for Discovery in Physics.
Submissions to the Planning track are encouraged in any area of foundational and use-inspired research appropriate to NSF and its partner organizations. This funding will provide grants for up to two years and up to a total of $500,000. Anticipated planning activities include workshops and engagement with potential partners and stakeholders, and will hopefully lay the groundwork for Institute themes for 2021 and beyond.
Grant proposals for the National AI Research Institutes program are due to NSF no later than Jan. 28, 2020, for Institute proposals and Jan. 30, 2020, for Planning grant proposals. See the NSF news release here.
Earlier this year, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) released their completed Artificial Intelligence (AI) Roadmap, titled A 20-Year Community Roadmap for AI Research in the US. An HTML version is available here. This roadmap, led by Yolanda Gil (University of Southern California and President of AAAI) and Bart Selman (Cornell University and President Elect of AAAI), is the result of a year long effort by the CCC and over 100 members of the research community. One of the recommendations from the Roadmap was to create National AI Research Centers: multi-university centers with affiliated institutions that are focused on pivotal areas of long-term AI research. While the institutes funded by the new initiative are considerably less ambitious than those proposed in the roadmap — not surprising in the current budget environment — they could represent a down-payment on building the research capacity the U.S. will need to remain competitive in the global race to lead AI innovation.
