MANCHIN QUESTIONS WITNESSES ON RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ENERGY DEPARTMENT'S ROLE IN ENSURING SECURITY

Press Release

"Over the past few years, six National Labs with world leading capability have been working to understand the challenges around AI and related issues. The labs' work is bringing together both fundamental science and national security missions. If we want to invest in AI in a cost-effective way, we must build on these existing programs. Most people think about the Department of Energy for its work advancing energy technologies, like nuclear reactors, energy efficiency, carbon capture and hydrogen. But DOE does more than just energy. The Department is also the largest supporter of scientific research in the Federal government -- conducting research and developing technologies across a range of fields from quantum computing to vaccine development to Astro-physics.

Artificial intelligence stands out across DOE's vast mission. It has the potential to revolutionize scientific discovery, technology deployment, and national security. In fact, AI is already changing the world at a remarkable pace. We are seeing it deployed in battlefields across the world. Ukraine has successfully used AI-enabled drone swarms against Russian forces. AI also helped us fight COVID-19. DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratories used its artificial intelligence and computing resources to model proteins in the coronavirus to help develop the vaccine."

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"Our Committee recently played an important role in advancing DOE's AI work. Recognizing that the United States must not fall behind in the supercomputing race, we authorized the Exa-scale Computing Program at the Department of Energy in the 115th Congress. In May of last year, the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee passed Exa-scale -- the ability to perform one billion-billion calculations per second -- making this the fastest supercomputer in the world. Before we authorized the Exa-scale Computing Program, China had the fastest computers. Now, the U.S. has regained the lead.

Between 2015 and 2021, Chinese AI companies raised $110 billion, including $40.2 billion from U.S. investors in 251 AI companies. In 2017, China released their "New Generation AI Development Plan" which includes R&D and infrastructure targets. The U.S. currently does not have a strategic AI plan like this. In addition to government spending, China's workforce advantage is significant -- it has twice as many STEM PhDs and twice as many STEM master's degree holders than the U.S. China has created Artificial Intelligence PhD programs in every one of their top universities. In regards to the Exa-scale Computing Program this Committee championed, the Chinese government could be set to operate as many as 10 exa-scale supercomputers by 2025."

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"What can the Department and the Labs do to address these safety and security concerns?"

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"Basically, I look back and you all remember when the internet was coming on board, was born out of the labs, and then by the early 90's we created Section 230 thinking we would let it develop, be all it could be. We look back, it's even more than what we thought it could be. It's been used very effectively to help economies and help people all over the world, but it's been used very detrimentally too. So, we're trying to not recreate that same environment here with AI. What can you do to stop something like that?"

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"It's growing so quickly and expanding…how can we put the cat back in the box?"

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