The National Police Agency said Thursday it will seek 5.96 billion ( 41.26 million) to strengthen cyberattack countermeasures in its budget request for the fiscal year starting April 2025. The funds will mainly be used to enhance investigation capabilities and improve measures to fight phishing using generative artificial intelligence technology. Of the total, 343 million will be requested partly to procure computers, as there will be about a dozen more staff at the NPA's national cyber department. For the fight against phishing, 26 million will be allocated to the introduction of a generative AI system to detect fake websites. The Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake also left many roads cut off, making it difficult for rescue workers to enter disaster-affected areas.

FOX Business correspondent Lydia Hu has the latest on jobs at risk as AI further develops on'America's Newsroom.' The Pentagon is asking Congress for nearly $2 billion for artificial intelligence in its budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which one expert said will help the U.S. keep pace with China in "the arms race of our generation." The proposed FY2024 budget asked for $1.8 billion for AI as part of the Pentagon's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) budget. The FY 2023 budget request didn't attach a dollar figure to AI, while the FY 2022 budget sought $874 million for AI. Parham Eftekhari, Executive Vice President of CyberRisk Alliance, said the increase would put the U.S. somewhere in the neighborhood of China's budget, which reportedly is already spending about $1.6 billion for military AI development.

President Biden came into office promising to restore the role of science in government after the Trump administration's rocky relationship with scientific advice. A key tool for the White House to implement its ambitious science-related agenda is the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP--a relatively small outfit that oversees policies about science, including budget requests for agencies that conduct science and the coordination of major scientific endeavors across the federal government. Since Biden took office, OSTP has taken on a variety of sorely needed priorities, including reinvigorating government processes for scientific integrity, future pandemic preparedness, and exploring what artificial intelligence means for human rights. But these good causes have been overshadowed by controversies over OSTP's leadership. Politico recently broke a story about billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's close ties to the Biden administration's OSTP.

Japan plans to revise its Medium Term Defense Program earlier than originally scheduled as it looks to boost spending to counter China's growing assertiveness in surrounding waters and prepare for contingencies in the Taiwan Strait, government sources said Friday. The program, which covers the five years through fiscal 2023, could be updated within the year, with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi having agreed earlier this month that some changes are necessary, the sources said. Discussions between officials including at the Defense Ministry and the National Security Secretariat are already underway, with budget issues set to be reviewed by the Finance Ministry. The revision would seek to fulfill Suga's promise to U.S. President Joe Biden during their meeting in Washington in April that Japan would bolster its defense capabilities to strengthen the alliance between their countries and maintain security in the Indo-Pacific region. In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the leaders singled out China for actions that are "inconsistent with the international rules-based order, including the use of economic and other forms of coercion."

The Trump administration has released a sweeping strategy outlining steps the executive branch can take to promote and protect the country's competitive advantage on emerging technologies. The White House issued its National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies on Thursday, setting out policy goals for fields that include artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and military and space technologies. The strategy doesn't set specific measures like some of President Donald Trump's executive orders focused on AI and quantum science, but senior administration officials told reporters the strategy signals a new level of coordination among agencies. Priority actions in the strategy include increasing the priority of federal R&D in annual appropriations, accelerating the adoption of emerging technology within agencies and recruiting a workforce with in-demand science and technology skills. Insight by Micro Focus Government Solutions: Learn how NGA is working with artificial intelligence, the adoption of zero trust and how the agency keeps its employees safe from cyber threats in this free webinar.

A "masterpiece" is how then-Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan infamously described the Fiscal Year 2020 budget request. It would, he said, align defense spending with the U.S. National Defense Strategy -- both funding the future capabilities necessary to maintain an advantage over near-peer powers Russia and China, and maintaining readiness for ongoing counter-terror campaigns. While research and development funding increased in 2020, it did not represent the funding shift toward future capabilities that observers expected. Despite its massive size, the budget was insufficient to address the department's long-term challenges. Key emerging technologies identified by the department -- such as hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and directed-energy weapons -- still lacked a "clear and sustained commitment to investment." It was clear that the Department of Defense did not make the difficult tradeoffs necessary to fund long-term modernization.

The president's budget request for fiscal 2021 proposed $738 million to fund the National Institutes of Science and Technology, a dramatic reduction from the more than $1 billion in enacted funds allocated for the agency this fiscal year. The House Science, Space and Technology Committee's Research and Technology Subcommittee on Wednesday held a hearing to hone in on NIST's reauthorization--but instead of focusing on relevant budget considerations, lawmakers had other plans. "We're disappointed by the president's destructive budget request, which proposes over a 30% cut to NIST programs," Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said at the top of the hearing. "But today, I don't want to dwell on a proposal that we know Congress is going to reject ... today I would like this committee to focus on improving NIST and getting the agency the tools it needs to do better, to do its job." Per Stevens' suggestion, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Walter Copan reflected on some of the agency's dire needs and offered updates and his view on a range of its ongoing programs and efforts.

As part of what is likely to be a record-setting defense budget, the Defense Ministry will begin upgrading the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Izumo helicopter carrier next year to enable it to carry fighter jets. The upgrade is in line with the National Defense Guidelines and the Medium-Term Defense Program for fiscal 2019 to 2023, which was adopted by the government in late 2018 and includes the plans to remodel the Izumo so that it can carry U.S.-made, state-of-the-art F-35B stealth fighters, becoming a de facto aircraft carrier. The work is primarily aimed at reinforcing the heat resistance of the Izumo's deck for landings and takeoffs by F-35B jets and is due to start in late fiscal 2019, which ends in March 2020, for completion during fiscal 2021. For fiscal 2020, the ministry has requested a record budget of ¥5.32 trillion, marking the seventh consecutive year the budget request has increased. The sum includes ¥84.6 billion for purchasing six F-35Bs. The MSDF will initially use F-35Bs from the U.S. Marine Corps to train Izumo crew members, as the delivery of the six fighters is not expected to start before fiscal 2024.

In response to the 11 February 2019 US "Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," NIST is requesting information about technical standards and related tools for artificial intelligence during an open comment period ending 31 May. Comments may be submitted via email to ai_standards@nist.gov. More information can be found on the Federal Register. In this article, SPIE/OSA Congressional Fellow Benjamin Isaacoff lays out the goals and gaps of the current US strategy for AI. In February, US President Trump issued an executive order laying out the "American AI Initiative" (AAII).

The U.S. Army is looking to advance its technology and put its focus on future conflicts, as it presents its colossal budget request to Congress. "This is a big day for the Army," U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper told CNBC on Tuesday. The bold request allows the Defense Department to prepare for "high-intensity conflict" against countries like Russia and China, he said. "At the same time it also underscores this renaissance that the Army is in with regard to how we man, organize, and train and equip the force," he added. Esper expects the Army to look "much more robotic."