We present a response to the 2018 Request for Information (RFI) from the NITRD, NCO, NSF regarding the "Update to the 2016 National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan." Through this document, we provide a response to the question of whether and how the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan (NAIRDSP) should be updated from the perspective of Fermilab, America's premier national laboratory for High Energy Physics (HEP). We believe the NAIRDSP should be extended in light of the rapid pace of development and innovation in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) since 2016, and present our recommendations below. AI has profoundly impacted many areas of human life, promising to dramatically reshape society --- e.g., economy, education, science --- in the coming years. We are still early in this process. It is critical to invest now in this technology to ensure it is safe and deployed ethically. Science and society both have a strong need for accuracy, efficiency, transparency, and accountability in algorithms, making investments in scientific AI particularly valuable. Thus far the US has been a leader in AI technologies, and we believe as a national Laboratory it is crucial to help maintain and extend this leadership. Moreover, investments in AI will be important for maintaining US leadership in the physical sciences.

As more decisions become automated and processed by algorithms, these processes become more opaque and less accountable. The public has a right to know the data processes that impact their lives so they can correct errors and contest decisions made by algorithms. Personal data collected from our social connections and online activities are used by the government and companies to make determinations about our ability to fly, obtain a job, get security clearance, and even determine the severity of criminal sentencing. These opaque, automated decision-making processes bear risks of secret profiling and discrimination as well as undermine our privacy and freedom of association. Without knowledge of the factors that provide the basis for decisions, it is impossible to know whether government and companies engage in practices that are deceptive, discriminatory, or unethical.

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.

These terms are now among the most used in tech think tanks around the world. All devices and systems are already integrated with this technology to keep up with the demands of the human race, drastically improving the way we live. We've reached that age of time wherein men have created machines capable of thinking independently. These machines can learn and mimic human-like responses which can be applied in a variety of fields like medicine, transportation and manufacturing, among others. All of us have benefited from them for sure.

Through this Request for Information (RFI), NITRD NCO seeks input from the public, including those directly performing Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and development (R&D) and directly affected by such R&D, on whether the strategic plan should be revised and, if so, the ways in which it may be improved. This includes suggestions as to the addition, removal, or modification of strategic aims, comments as to existing strategic aims as well as their past or future implementation by the Federal government. The public input provided in response to this RFI will inform NITRD NCO and the Select Committee in updating the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan. Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 11:59 p.m. (ET) on October 26, 2018. Instructions: Response to this RFI is voluntary.

In 2016, amidst this landscape of uncertainty, the United States government launched a series of activities and actions to help the country better understand and prepare for the impacts of advancements in artificial intelligence (Felten 2016b). In one of those actions, the government called for the creation of a national strategic plan on AI that defines the federal role in AI research and development (R&D). Why was a strategic plan needed? If done thoughtfully, a national AI R&D strategic plan could help address these uncertainties by identifying the federal role in AI investments and defining open AI R&D challenges that must be solved before AI can be used in important societal applications.

They also said that the government is in a better position than technology companies to invest in AI applications aimed at broad societal problems. They agreed that AI is in a crucial developmental moment, and that government has a unique opportunity to shape its future. That was the message from prominent AI technologists and researchers at a Senate committee hearing last week. The White House made a similar argument in a "National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan," which it published in October. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who convened the hearing, expressed concern that the United States not cede its leadership in developing AI to China or any other foreign government.

Blighty's Science and Technology Committee released Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, while the White House delivered Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence and National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan. Limitations to AI research were also recognised in the separate report, The National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan. The US plans to develop shared public data sets for AI training and testing. Bryson makes a good point as the White House report was timed just before Obama was due to host the White House's Frontiers Conference.

Analysis Research in AI is expanding quickly, and the UK and US governments have begun to notice. Official reports about the new technology and future strategies were dropped by both governments this month. Blighty's Science and Technology Committee released Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, while the White House delivered Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence and National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan. The titles of the British and American reports provide a clue as to how both governments are responding. There is no "preparing" or "strategic plan" in the UK's reports.