Exclusive: Energy Department proposes AI strategy

Zoom in: According to details first shared with Axios, DOE on Tuesday unveiled its roadmap for the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology (FASST) initiative that would leverage the agencies' 17 national laboratories.

• DOE aims to build energy-efficient AI supercomputers, which could help address the challenge of advancing this technology without causing energy consumption to skyrocket, which Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has identified as a top concern.
• The agency currently runs some of the world's fastest supercomputers, that are used for climate change and energy research for nuclear weapons modernization.

Between the lines: DOE envisions its role as helping its scientists and the broader scientific community create trustworthy AI models to yield breakthroughs in a variety of fields, including clean energy technologies.

• The agency has a goal of researching the characteristics of large AI systems themselves, rather than just their applications.

Yes, but: The proposal would need congressional authorization and funding to be implemented. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the Senate.