Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology on Monday said it will invest $20 million to advance artificial intelligence-based solutions that strengthen manufacturing and cybersecurity.
- The investment will establish two centers as part of an expanded collaboration with the nonprofit Mitre Corp., according to a news release. The centers aim to drive adoption and development of U.S.-based autonomous software systems that advance AI innovation and bolster national security.
- Mitre will operate both centers, according to a separate news release. The nonprofit also manages NIST’s National Cybersecurity Federally Funded Research and Development Center, founded in 2014.
Dive Insight:
The investment aligns with NIST’s strategy to ensure the United States is a leader in critical and emerging technologies, such as AI, quantum computing, biotechnology and semiconductors.
NIST said it will rely on “existing resources” to build on its expertise and carry out recommendations from the Trump administration’s AI action plan published in July in an effort to achieve “AI dominance.”
“Our goal is to remove barriers to American AI innovation and accelerate the application of our AI technologies around the world,” Acting NIST Director Craig Burkhardt said in a statement.
The expanded agreement with Mitre will focus on leveraging AI to help U.S. companies more efficiently make their products and meet domestic and international demands, Burkhardt said, as well as drive discovery and bring new technologies and devices to market. Mitre said it will partner with NIST, academic experts and industry on the initiative.
The centers are called the AI Economic Security Center for U.S. Manufacturing Productivity and the AI Economic Security Center to Secure U.S. Critical Infrastructure from Cyberthreats. Their locations have not yet been disclosed.
NIST said it expects the AI centers to enable breakthroughs in applied science and technology, as well as deliver “disruptive innovative solutions” that tackle pressing challenges facing the nation.
The agency also said in the coming months it plans to announce the winner of its open competition for a new Manufacturing USA institute focused on AI in manufacturing. It has set aside up to $70 million for the project over a five-year period.
