35 Projects to Receive Compute Resource Support Under NSF’s NAIRR Pilot

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) have unveiled the initial 35 projects selected for computational support under the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot.

This milestone signifies a crucial step forward in promoting responsible AI research nationwide.

The NAIRR Pilot, stemming from President Joe Biden's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI, is set to grant AI researchers and students access to vital resources and data.

NSF-funded advanced computing systems like Delta, Frontera, Lonestar, and Neocortex, as well as DOE-supported systems such as Summit and the AI Testbed, will support a total of 27 projects and an additional 8 projects respectively.

“While this is only the first step in our NAIRR efforts, we plan to rapidly expand our partnerships and secure the level of investments needed to realize the NAIRR vision and unlock the full potential of AI for the benefit of humanity and society,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said.

The projects awarded computing allocations in this inaugural phase cover a broad spectrum of AI-related domains. These include studies on language model safety and security, privacy in federated models, and the creation of privacy-preserving synthetic data. 

Additionally, there are endeavors focused on domain-specific research, such as leveraging AI and satellite imagery to map permafrost disturbances, establishing foundational models for aquatic sciences, securing medical imaging data, and employing AI for agricultural pest identification.

In January, the NSF partnered with AI companies such as NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Google, among others, to launch the NAIRR pilot program.

Other big names joining the NAIRR pilot include Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Intel, Anthropic, Hugging Face, IBM Meta, and Palantir. Also, federal agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) , and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), among others are part of the pilot.