WASHINGTON – A new Senate bill seeks to establish a US-Israel Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Center “to further bilateral cooperation in AI and contribute to the advancement of this critical field.”
US Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced the bipartisan legislation.
The bill would fund the new center with $10 million a year for the next five years, with the US government paying “not more than 50% of the costs of implementing the agreements.”
“The purpose of the center shall be to leverage the experience, knowledge, and expertise of institutions of higher education and private sector entities in the United States and Israel to develop more robust research and development cooperation in the areas of machine learning; image classification; object detection; speech recognition; natural language processing,” and other fields, the bill reads.
“The Center will serve as a hub for robust research and development in AI across the public, private and education sectors in the two nations,” the senators wrote.
“America, and the world, benefit immensely when we engage in joint cooperation and partnerships with Israel, a global technology leader and our most important ally in the Middle East,” Senator Rubio said in a statement. “I’m proud to lead this legislation to build on current, highly successful bilateral research ties between the US and Israel, as well as help both nations stay ahead of China’s ever-growing technology threat.”
Senator Blackburn said that “countering China’s increasing Artificial Intelligence advancement and destabilizing presence is essential for global security.”
“The US-Israel Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Development Center re-affirms our relationship with our strongest ally in the Middle East and ensures our bilateral capacity to research, develop, and innovate AI technologies,” she added.
Senator Rosen said that the center is needed “to maintain our technological edge and enhance our competitiveness, the United States must act now to rapidly field AI systems. As the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence rightly points out, leveraging allied innovation advantages is critical to winning the AI era.”
“To help us stay ahead of the curve, this bipartisan legislation would enable greater collaboration between the United States and Israel – a major hub for new and emerging AI technologies,” she continued. “Together, we can develop AI technologies that enhance our national security and the US-Israel relationship. I thank Senators Rubio, Cantwell, and Blackburn for their leadership on this legislation.”