Bipartisan Senators Renew Their Push to Codify NAIRR

A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced legislation to formally establish the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) as the pilot program continues into its second year without permanent status. 

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Todd Young, R-Ind., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Cory Booker D-N.J., introduced the CREATE AI Act on April 29 to turn the National Science Foundation’s pilot program, NAIRR, into a permanent program.  

NAIRR was established in January 2024 to function as shared national infrastructure to expand AI research access by providing computing power, datasets, and tools to researchers nationwide. NSF launched the NAIRR pilot as part of an AI executive order signed by former President Joe Biden in 2023.  

Lawmakers first tried to creating NAIRR with the first version of the CREATE AI Act in July 2023. The bicameral, bipartisan bill charged NSF with overseeing NAIRR under a program management office. Heinrich, Young, Rounds, and Booker all sponsored the first CREATE AI Act.  

Last year, Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Don Beyer, D-Va., reintroduced a companion bill to the CREATE AI Act in the House. Under the House bill, funding for NAIRR would come from donations made by federal agencies and industry instead of new federal appropriations.  

The Senate proposal introduced last week would help the United States “develop and deploy AI responsibly, while also unleashing American innovation by expanding access to the tools needed to conduct cutting-edge technology,” Heinrich said in a statement.  

“By truly democratizing access to AI, we can prepare American workers for the future, maintain our nation’s competitive edge, and ensure these rapid advancements strengthen our economy and benefit communities,” Heinrich said. 

Rounds noted that if passed, the legislation will “allow … universities to expand their leading role,” in AI while supporting objectives laid out in President Donald Trump’s AI Action Plan, which calls for increased investment in AI-related research and development. 

While there has been long-held optimism in Congress’s ability to pass the CREATE AI Act, its reintroduction comes just months ahead of a busy midterm election season. In the last Congress, the act did not advance past the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 

Congress has until the end of December to pass legislation through both chambers and receive Trump’s approval before the proposals expire.  

The CREATE AI Act comes with a long list of industry–backers, including the AI Policy Network, Business Software Alliance, Cognizant, Information Technology Industry Council, and SeedAI, in addition to some universities.