Task Force on American Innovation Webinar on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research

The Task Force on American Innovation (TFAI), a non-partisan alliance of leading American companies and business associations, research university associations, and scientific societies—including ASME—recently held a virtual Congressional Briefing titled, “Future Forward: Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Research and Innovation.” The briefing hosted a panel of experts who provided commentary on the state of ML research in the United States and how it is being used to create innovative AI solutions.
 
TFAI supports federally-funded scientific research and promotes its benefits to America’s economy, security, and quality of life. The Task Force is particularly concerned with research and educational funding in the physical sciences and engineering. The recent virtual briefing focused on how a combination of public and private funding is crucial for the advancement of AI.
 
Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Co-Chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus and a mathematician himself, spoke at the briefing, shared that the goal of the Caucus is to bring together Members of Congress working to advance AI issues and to help inform MOC and staff on AI and its policy implications. He shared how AI has been given significant attention in Congress and highlighted some specific legislative issues currently being addressed, which include the use of AI by federal government agencies, consumer safety, mitigating the risk of bias in AI, and
 
After Rep. McNerney concluded his remarks, a panel experts spoke about how ML algorithmic and hardware breakthroughs are spurring cutting-edge research in the U.S., and what investments need to be made to ensure that the U.S. can achieve future success in ML and AI.
 
Panelists included:

• Dr. Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Vice President, Google Research
• Dr. Talitha Washington, Inaugural Director, Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative, Professor of Mathematics, Clark Atlanta University
• Dr. John R. Smith, IBM Fellow, AI Tech, IBM Research AI, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
• Dr. Court Corley, Chief Data Scientist and Group Leader, Data Sciences and Analytics Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 

Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) also provided remarks at the conclusion of the event.
 
A full recording of the briefing is available for viewing at: https://youtu.be/dzrIy6OPSL8.