NSF launch of initiative meets goal of White House executive order
Regenstrief Institute is collaborating with 11 federal agencies and 25 private sector, non-profit and philanthropy partners — including the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Amazon Web Services, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — in a national artificial intelligence project being driven by a White House executive order.
The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot is being hailed as a first step toward realizing the vision for a shared research infrastructure that will strengthen and democratize access to critical resources necessary to power responsible AI discovery and innovation.
The launch meets a goal outlined in Executive Order 14110, signed by President Joe Biden in October 2023, directing NSF to launch a pilot for NAIRR within 90 days. As the pilot expedites the proof of concept, future investments in NAIRR will democratize access to AI innovation and support critical work advancing the development of trustworthy AI.
“Future healthcare-focused AI innovation is anchored in the ethical sourcing of real-world data and the synergy between a diverse consortium of institutions, researchers, medical professionals, and both public and private stakeholders,” said Shaun Grannis, M.D., M.S., Regenstrief vice president for data and analytics who is leading Regenstrief’s efforts. “We’re pleased to be part of this pilot project, and we hope that the work that follows will not only expedite the deployment of useful AI innovations into public health and clinical decision-making processes but also enrich our understanding of individual patient needs and the strategies to fulfill them.”
“Strengthening and democratizing access to AI holds real potential to provide much-needed benefits to currently underserved populations, with the goal of leveling healthcare inequity and improving outcomes for all,” said Rachel Patzer, PhD, MPH, president and chief executive officer, Regenstrief Institute. “With our expertise and long-standing leadership in the responsible use of healthcare data to drive innovation in clinical care delivery and population health, Regenstrief Institute is proud to be a participant in the National AI Research Resource pilot.”
The NAIRR pilot will initially support AI research to advance safe, secure and trustworthy AI, as well as the application of AI to challenges in healthcare and environmental and infrastructure sustainability. The pilot will also provide infrastructure support to educators to enable training on AI technologies and their responsible approaches.
The pilot’s operations will be organized into four focus areas. Regenstrief will be engaged with NAIRR Secure.
- NAIRR Open will enable open AI research through access to diverse AI resources via the NAIRR Pilot Portal and coordinated allocations.
- NAIRR Secure, co-led by NIH and DOE, will enable AI research requiring privacy and security-preserving resources and will assemble exemplar privacy preserving resources.
- NAIRR Software will facilitate and investigate inter-operable use of AI software, platforms, tools and services for NAIRR pilot resources.
- NAIRR Classroom will reach new communities through education, training, user support and outreach.
The collaborative nature of the pilot, bringing together academia, industry, nonprofit and government sectors, is intended to promote cross-sector partnerships. Industry collaboration can lead to the development of commercially viable AI applications and solutions, fostering economic growth by creating new markets and revenue streams. Current government partners include:
- U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO)
Current private sector, non-profit and philanthropy partners include:
- AI2: Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Anthropic
- AMD
- Cerebras
- Databricks
- Datavant
- EleutherAI
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
- Hugging Face
- IBM
- Intel
- Meta
- Microsoft
- MLCommons
- NVIDIA
- Omidyar Network
- OpenAI
- OpenMined
- Palantir
- Regenstrief Institute
- SambaNova Systems
- Vocareum
- Weights & Biases
See the full press release with lists of federal partners and quotes on the Regenstrief Institute website: Democratizing the future of AI R&D: NSF to launch National AI Research Resource pilot – Regenstrief Institute.
About Regenstrief Institute
Founded in 1969 in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute is a local, national and global leader dedicated to a world where better information empowers people to end disease and realize true health. A key research partner to Indiana University, Regenstrief and its research scientists are responsible for a growing number of major healthcare innovations and studies. Examples range from the development of global health information technology standards that enable the use and interoperability of electronic health records to improving patient-physician communications, to creating models of care that inform clinical practice and improve the lives of patients around the globe.
Sam Regenstrief, a nationally successful entrepreneur from Connersville, Indiana, founded the institute with the goal of making healthcare more efficient and accessible for everyone. His vision continues to guide the institute’s research mission.
