White House advisory council calls on U.S. to increase AI funding to $10 billion by 2030

Earlier this week, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report outlining what it believes must happen for the U.S. to advance "industries of the future." Several of the committee's suggestions touched on the field of AI as it relates to federal, state, and private-sector partnerships, as well as departmental budgetary considerations. In particular, the report recommends that the U.S. grow nondefense federal investments in AI by 10 times over the next 10 years and for the federal government to create national AI "testbeds," expanding the National Science Foundation's (NSF) AI Institutes with at least one AI Institute in each state and creating a "National AI Consortia" to share capabilities, data, and resources. Loosely, PCAST -- which lives in the Office of Science and Technology -- provides advice to the president on science and technology policy. In the report, the committee argues the U.S. will need to boost AI R&D investments from $1 billion a year in 2020 to $10 billion a year by 2030 in order to remain competitive.