NSF Seeks Public Comment on Development of a National AI Action Plan

The National Science Foundation has issued a request for public comment to help define priorities for a new Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. The plan, directed by Presidential Executive Order 14179 on Jan. 23, will "define the priority policy actions needed to sustain and enhance America's AI dominance, and to ensure that unnecessarily burdensome requirements do not hamper private sector AI innovation."

Development of the plan will be led by the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (Office of Science and Technology Policy), the White House AI and Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor. Executive Order 14179 follow's President Trump's Jan. 20 revocation of the Biden-Harris AI Executive Order "Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence," which, according to the NSF notice, "hampered the private sector's ability to innovate in AI by imposing burdensome government requirements restricting private sector AI development and deployment."

The NSF is encouraging the public to suggest "concrete AI policy actions" to address any relevant AI topics, such as: "hardware and chips, data centers, energy consumption and efficiency, model development, open source development, application and use (either in the private sector or by government), explainability and assurance of AI model outputs, cybersecurity, data privacy and security throughout the lifecycle of AI system development and deployment (to include security against AI model attacks), risks, regulation and governance, technical and safety standards, national security and defense, research and development, education and workforce, innovation and competition, intellectual property, procurement, international collaboration, and export controls."

Responses are due by March 15, 2025, and will be "taken into consideration in the development of the AI Action Plan," the NSF said.

For more information, read the NSF notice on the Federal Register here.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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