The Big Story: Bipartisan legislation to build AI resource for startups, researchers
A recently introduced bill would create government AI resources for startups and bolster needed talent in the field. The bipartisan bill—the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2023 (CREATE AI Act)—formally establishes the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) which will provide compute, datasets, and educational resources for startups, students, and academics. The legislation comes amid rapid growth of AI technology and will improve the competitiveness of U.S. startups.
The NAIRR, as designed, will be managed through the National Science Foundation by an outside entity and stands to benefit startups by improving talent pipelines, enabling AI research, and providing resources directly to startups. The NAIRR was the product of a robust congressionally chartered task force process that included stakeholders from government, industry, and academia and sought multiple rounds of stakeholder feedback. Engine and startups themselves weighed in throughout the task force process to ensure the resource would be designed with the needs of entrepreneurs of all backgrounds in mind.
This legislation establishing the NAIRR is a welcome step that will improve the competitiveness of startups, but it does not include funding for the resource. The task force estimated building and funding the NAIRR to be $2.6 billion spread over six years. Instead, the funding for the NAIRR will need to come from the National Science Foundation’s existing appropriations and annual budget. Adequate funding is critical to ensure the NAIRR is a useful tool for startups and successful at bolstering U.S. AI leadership, especially as other countries pour resources into girding their own AI ecosystems.
Policy Roundup:
Conservative group sues Black-led venture capital fund. The conservative activist behind the recent challenges to race-conscious admissions before the Supreme Court this week sued an Atlanta-based venture capital fund that supports Black women startup founders, accusing them of racial discrimination. The suit alleges the fund is in violation of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866—which bars racial bias in private contracts—by making Black women the sole eligible participants and/or recipients of a grant competition. Black women face steep inequities within the innovation ecosystem, and investment in Black women-led startups remains unjustifiably low. Programs and resources that directly support underrepresented innovators are critical to overcoming these barriers within the startup ecosystem and difficulty accessing government programs. Attacks against those that provide assistance, financial and otherwise, to underrepresented founders will only serve to bring more inequity to the American innovation ecosystem.
Senators seek to amplify employer program for student debt. This week, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) sent a letter urging the Internal Revenue Service to generate awareness of the Employer Participation in Repayment Act, which allows employers to make tax-free contributions towards employees' student loans until 2025. Their letter comes as loan payments are set to restart and follows the invalidation of President Biden’s student loan relief plan by the Supreme Court. While the administration is exploring a revamped income-driven repayment plan called Saving on a Valuable Education, it’s important all potential solutions are pursued to ensure debt isn’t a barrier to innovation.
House Republicans send letter advocating against global tax deal. Lawmakers sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department this week, arguing that the global tax deal the department negotiated at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts U.S. tax revenue at risk. Given Republican opposition, it is unlikely the U.S. will adopt and implement the tax rules, risking the global return of varying, discriminatory digital services taxes that are ultimately borne by startups. The global tax deal is needed to create more certainty for startups and to avoid a fragmented environment with many harmful digital taxes.
New game illustrates difficulties of U.S. immigration system. This week, the Cato Institute released a game designed to teach users about legal immigration—and the time-consuming, expensive, restrictive, and complicated pathways foreign-born individuals must navigate to land visas and U.S. residency. Engine has long criticized the U.S. immigration system’s shortcomings—something other nations are taking advantage of by drawing skilled talent away from the U.S. Policymakers must craft more and better pathways to attract needed foreign-born talent to bolster the U.S. innovation ecosystem and fill important STEM gaps.
