This week, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) alongside public and private sector collaborators launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot program. NAIRR seeks to advance AI discovery and innovation by making resources available from 11 different federal agencies and over 25 private companies. The pilot program was formed as a direct reaction to President Biden's 2023 AI Executive Order (specifically section 5.2(a)(i)) and targets several of the EO's broad topics including "Ensuring Responsible and Effective Government Use of AI" and "Promoting Innovation and Competition."

With an estimated six-year budget of $2.6 billion, NAIRR seeks to provide researchers with access to AI-relevant data and compute resources, which are being made available by agencies including the NSF, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to name a few.

The contribution of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is expected to include provision of its "bulk datasets," which include U.S. patents and trademarks in a structured format. Such data offers a "rich and diverse" dataset of complex language, which may be used for the development of robust language models. The USPTO is also making available "research datasets," which include patent and trademark information relating more generally to "intellectual property, entrepreneurship, and innovation topics." The datasets and related documentation is specifically formatted for academic researchers. The patent and trademark information is provided for NAIRR users in a variety of different formats, including the official gazette, multi-page PDFs, full text/XML version, and others.

Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, USPTO commented with respect to the NAIRR Pilot: "The USPTO is committed to advancing US innovation including AI innovation and AI-assisted innovation. We are focused on maximizing AI's benefits and distributing them broadly across society, confining the risks through technical mitigations and human governance and empowering a diversity of individuals and organizations to participate in AI innovation."

Broadly speaking, the information and resources provided by the USPTO through the NAIRR pilot program may help democratize access to AI resources and assist researchers in areas related to intellectual property, data governance, and patent data.

For additional information, please see:

• NSF NAIRR Pilot News Release
• NAIRR Pilot

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