In each of its annual budget requests, the Trump administration made deep funding cuts to federal research spending, in spite of Congress' consistent refusals. However, the administration's 2021 proposal actually sought to promote AI and quantum computing research. It asked for double funding to those departments in the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, Darpa, and the Joint AI Center to $2 billion annually. While decried as wholly inadequate to address the field's rate of technical advance, that funding bump would come at the expense of funding other basic sciences in those same agencies, as well as an overall reduction in research and development spending by 9 percent over 2020, to $142.2 billion. "I find it disappointing and concerning that funding for basic research is down," Martijn Rasser, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Wired in 2020.

Not long ago US President Donald Trump quoted that, "Continued American leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States and to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nation's values, policies, and priorities." President Donald J. Trump launched the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative, the Nation's strategy for promoting American leadership in AI, by signing Executive Order 13859 in February 2019. Reportedly, the American AI Initiative focuses the resources of the Federal Government to support AI innovation that will increase prosperity, enhance national security, and improve quality of life for the American people. The United States has decided to promote Federal investment in AI R&D in collaboration with industry, academia, international partners and allies, and other non-Federal entities to generate technological breakthroughs in AI. President Trump called for a 2-year doubling of non-defense AI R&D in his fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget proposal, and in 2019 the Administration updated its AI R&D strategic plan, developed the first progress report describing the impact of Federal R&D investments, and published the first-ever reporting of government-wide non-defense AI R&D spending.

Prepare for structural changes and ethical workplace transformation now by helping employees adjust to the role of machines in their jobs. The rise of powerful analytics and automated decision-making will ultimately create a massive change in roles and tasks that will redefine work. Leaders need to prepare for wide-scale change management now. The workforce of the future demands a new approach to business as usual-- one that is employee-centric and transparent. Establish clear enterprise-wide policies around the deployment of AI, including the use of data and privacy standards.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has opened a new artificial intelligence institute to pursue research and inform national strategy. The National Artificial Intelligence Institute, a joint initiative of the VA's office of research and development and the VA secretary's center for strategic partnerships, will work with public and private partners to carry out AI research and development projects, including efforts to apply AI to identify veterans at high risk for suicide or to help reduce patient wait times. The institute will also collaborate with federal agencies on national AI strategy. That includes building upon the American AI Initiative, the national AI strategy President Donald Trump established through an executive order in February. The American AI Initiative's goal is to promote AI innovation in numerous sectors, including healthcare.

The Chinese have a very public, very-deep, extremely well-funded commitment to AI. Air Force General VeraLinn Jamieson says it plainly: "We estimate the total spending on artificial intelligence systems in China in 2017 was $12 billion. We also estimate that it will grow to at least $70 billion by 2020." According to the Obama White House Report in 2016, China publishes more journal articles on deep learning than the US and has increased its number of AI patents by 200%. China is determined to be the world leader in AI by 2030.

The Chinese have a very public, very-deep, extremely well-funded commitment to AI. Air Force General VeraLinn Jamieson says it plainly: "We estimate the total spending on artificial intelligence systems in China in 2017 was $12 billion. We also estimate that it will grow to at least $70 billion by 2020." According to the Obama White House Report in 2016, China publishes more journal articles on deep learning than the US and has increased its number of AI patents by 200%. China is determined to be the world leader in AI by 2030.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is looking for feedback on which government datasets could be released or opened up or generally improved in order to help support the development of artificial intelligence. The office published its request for input to the Federal Register on Wednesday. The RFI is part of the administration's American AI Initiative, an executive order that President Trump signed in February. The directive aims to promote American leadership in the development of this new technology. As part of this effort, OMB wants feedback on what kind of data people want and how this data will help in AI research and development.

The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy is gathering agencies' tech leaders next week to hear about the use of artificial intelligence in government. A "broad range" of federal IT officials -- including chief information officers, chief data officers and chief technology officers -- have been invited to the White House for a summit Monday to highlight current AI use cases across government and discuss future applications. The meeting will be led by OSTP staff, namely U.S. CTO Michael Kratsios and Director Kelvin Droegemeier, in support of the Trump administration's American AI Initiative. The agency has also invited members of academia and tech companies focused on AI to attend. Lynne Parker, OSTP assistant director for AI, said Wednesday at the Billington CyberSecurity that the summit will highlight "a number of the key ways that government is actually making good use of AI" in improving services and delivering solutions to complex challenges.

And with the proliferation of an AI-driven society, the social and economic value of such technology is also on the rise. In turn, harnessing and leveraging such technology needs to extend beyond the interests of venture capitalists, investment groups and entrepreneurs -- and also be a priority on a geopolitical scale. When the global economy starts to feel the shift ushered in with mass-adoption of AI, the United States needs to be leading the charge as opposed to chasing the pack. If the U.S. is to compete on a global level, they'll face an arms race of sorts from a litany of nations that are already doubling-down on the massive advantages that come with national AI proficiency. In fact, 18 different countries have launched national AI strategies, with government funding ranging from $20 million to almost $2 billion.

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds tremendous promise to benefit nearly all aspects of society, including the economy, healthcare, security, the law, transportation, even technology itself. On February 11, 2019, the President signed Executive Order 13859, Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence. This order launched the American AI Initiative, a concerted effort to promote and protect AI technology and innovation in the United States. The Initiative implements a whole-of-government strategy in collaboration and engagement with the private sector, academia, the public, and like-minded international partners. Among other actions, key directives in the Initiative call for Federal agencies to prioritize AI research and development (R&D) investments, enhance access to high-quality cyberinfrastructure and data, ensure that the Nation leads in the development of technical standards for AI, and provide education and training opportunities to prepare the American workforce for the new era of AI.