Tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, assemble to partner with US govt on AI research program

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has initiated the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot program, a collaborative effort with major tech companies and government agencies to strengthen AI research and development in the United States. 

The program aims to address concerns about concentrated AI resources and limited access for researchers and educators nationwide, particularly in smaller institutions and rural areas.

The program involves partnerships between the NSF, leading tech companies (Amazon, Anthropic, Hugging Face, IBM, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, and others), and several government agencies (DARPA, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Agriculture).

NAIRR will function as a national platform, providing researchers and educators access to high-powered computing hardware, advanced AI models, and valuable resources to support their work.

The program specifically targets addressing the uneven distribution of AI resources by making them more readily available to a wider range of institutions and individuals nationwide.

Tech companies are contributing resources to NAIRR through compute credits, access to models and datasets, research project support, and other valuable offerings.

But why? 

The program is expected to accelerate AI research and development in the US, foster innovation, and strengthen the nation’s competitiveness in the global AI landscape.

More here.