Ranking Member Stevens Opening Statement for Hearing on the Promise of AI in Driving Scientific Discoveries
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Subcommittees on Research & Technology and Energy are holding a joint hearing titled, Federal Science Agencies and the Promise of AI in Driving Scientific Discoveries.
Ranking Member Haley Stevens (D-MI) of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology made the following statement:
Thank you, Chairman Collins and Chairman Williams for hosting this hearing.
Good morning and welcome to today’s joint hearing to explore the promises of artificial intelligence for scientific discovery and how our amazing scientific agencies can enable these opportunities. I also welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses, including Dr. Louay Chamra, the Dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Oakland University – a phenomenal university in my district in Michigan. It is great to have you here today.
The Science Committee has a long history of passing legislation to minimize the downsides of AI and maximize the good for this revolutionary technology. While responsible development of AI will continue to be a long-term challenge, AI has brought new, exciting opportunities, many of these are yet to be tapped. I look forward to hearing from our panelists about these opportunities and the steps that Congress must take to realize them.
In my home state of Michigan, advances in AI by automakers are accelerating the development of autonomous vehicles that could potentially reduce traffic and increase safety. Scientists increasingly use AI systems to analyze massive amounts of data to accelerate research in fields from cosmology to engineering biology to neurology. Those examples represent just a tiny slice of all of the ways in which artificial intelligence is already benefiting many aspects of our lives and supporting our economic and national security.
To realize all of the benefits that may be possible, we need a skilled workforce that can apply AI technologies responsibly to our national and community needs. This means that we need to provide hands-on learning opportunities to all types of students and workers across sectors, including those who want to upskill and apply new uses of AI in their current jobs. Many of our local colleges and universities, such as Oakland University, are well positioned to provide these learning experiences and may even have existing programs that do so. However, they can greatly benefit from additional federal resources, especially computing resources, data, and educational tools—to scale their ability to train students and create a skilled AI workforce for our country.
The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource or NAIRR is intended to do just that – but in a way that reaches institutions and researchers across the country. I look forward to learning more about how the pilot program is proceeding, how the program brings together federal and non-government partners, and how it can inform a potential full-scale NAIRR program.
Since joining this Committee, I have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to promote trustworthy AI innovation. I am proud that we led the development of the 2020 National AI Initiative Act to accelerate and coordinate Federal investments in research, standards, and education in trustworthy AI. In that Act, Congress built upon existing National Science Foundation and Department of Energy AI research and education programs, including authorizing NSF to lead the National AI Research Institutes program. That Act also created the intellectual underpinnings for the NAIRR by creating a task force to study the issue.
I am excited that we get to focus on the amazing contributions AI can bring to scientific discovery and innovation across all fields, and what we here in Congress can do to ensure the United States leads the world in trustworthy artificial intelligence. Thank you again to our witnesses for joining us
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
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