The Department of Energy (DoE) announced today that it will provide $13 million in funding for five artificial intelligence (AI) research projects.
In a press release, DoE said the projects are “aimed at improving AI as a tool of scientific investigation and prediction.” The five projects being funding involve scientists at nine research institutions, including both DoE national laboratories and universities.
“Artificial intelligence, including machine learning, provides an extremely powerful way of tackling the most pressing issues facing our scientists today,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. “This research will help us adapt AI to the specific scientific challenges that DOE-supported scientists are addressing today and in the process help sustain U.S. leadership in this critical and growing field.”
As to how the funding will be used, $11.1 million will be allocated for two three-year projects focused on developing new AI algorithms and software for specific scientific problems. One of the challenges will be “adapting AI software to emerging computer architectures as new, more powerful computers become available.” The remaining $1.9 million is earmarked for three two-year projects that will tackle improving the reliability of predictions from AI and machine learning models through the application of mathematical and statistical techniques of uncertainty quantification.
