Artificial Intelligence

Congress’s week of AI

Tech titans, developers and executives descended on Capitol Hill this week for a series of meetings exploring crucial safeguards for AI research and development.

Artificial Intelligence

Agency leaders see data analytics and customer service uses for AI

Tech officials told lawmakers they are focused on a socio-technical approach to AI use cases in the government, saying it is not “one size fits all.”

Artificial Intelligence

DHS creates new chief of AI and unveils safety policies

The Department of Homeland Security is advancing its use of artificial intelligence technologies with new leadership and guidance.

Emerging Tech

Energy focused on emerging technology R&D to combat climate change

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm emphasized the agency’s goals in areas like fusion energy and AI in testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Artificial Intelligence

Lawmakers grapple with AI’s potential as they consider future regulations

In a week packed with artificial intelligence hearings and events, lawmakers are focused on bipartisan unity and threading the needle between further advancement and regulation.

Cybersecurity

DOE unveils $39 million for electric grid cybersecurity projects

Nine national labs will split $39 million in new federal investment, with projects leveraging cloud-based software and AI systems in cybersecurity for U.S. utility companies.

People

Eileen Donahoe tapped for State Dept. digital freedom envoy

The former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council will work within the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy.

Artificial Intelligence

Energy officials say their agency can lead the federal approach to national AI R&D efforts

Agency witnesses testifying at a Senate hearing spoke to Energy’s posture in addressing the “grand challenge” in safely developing and deploying artificial intelligence. 

Emerging Tech

AUKUS partnership success hinges on export controls for sensitive tech, officials say 

The trilateral Australia-U.K.-U.S. partnership is intended to share more emerging technologies, which officials say demands synchronicity in export control standards. 

Emerging Tech

How the US is going Dutch on quantum research

One of many recent international partnerships on quantum sciences, the U.S.-Netherlands collaboration has led to advancements in post-quantum cryptography and standards discussions.

Emerging Tech

Inside Spain’s burgeoning quantum tech landscape

Spain aims to join the top countries conducting quantum research through a government-backed spin-off culture.

Emerging Tech

Emerging tech is an SBA priority for both internal systems and external assistance

The Small Business Administration is leading the charge to democratize access to emerging technologies — particularly AI — across U.S. companies.

People

SBA names new chief technology officer

The agency promoted Douglas Robertson to CTO following his work on the Paycheck Protection Program loan effort.

Emerging Tech

Energy continues funding expansion into quantum computing research

As part of the agency’s supercomputing agenda, the Department of Energy selected three winning proposals to receive $24 million for furthering the development of a quantum computing network.

Artificial Intelligence

Schumer summons tech titans for AI meetups

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are among the CEOs slated to take questions from lawmakers in a closed-door forum.

Cybersecurity

Meta report spotlights ‘largest known’ foreign influence effort across social media platforms

Actors linked to adversarial nations — namely China and Russia — worked across platforms to push inaccurate content, according to a report released Tuesday. 

Emerging Tech

Energy allocates $16M for high-performance machine learning research

A total of seven academic institutions and national labs working on leveraging supercomputing capabilities to advance predictive modeling and simulation received new funding. 

Emerging Tech

NIST releases draft standards for 3 post-quantum encryption algorithms

The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants feedback on its draft standardization guidelines as the agency ushers in post-quantum cryptographic migration.

Emerging Tech

NSF invests $29 million in quantum sensing research

Following a windfall of public investment in quantum sensor applications, experts said that more federal funding should go toward similar QIST research efforts with near-term use cases.

Emerging Tech

New post-quantum cryptography guidance offers first steps toward migration

Several agencies partnered to release the first federal recommendations for organizations to begin upgrading their networks and systems to quantum cryptography-resilient security schemes.