DOE Launches Critical and Emerging Technology Office

The Department of Energy announced last week it has opened an Office of Critical and Emerging Technology, as required by President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on AI. The office will coordinate research in areas such as AI, biotechnology, quantum computing, and semiconductors across DOE’s national labs, develop partnerships with academia and industry, and inform policy making.

Helena Fu will lead the office while simultaneously serving as DOE’s chief artificial intelligence officer, a position also mandated and defined by Biden’s AI order.

Fu testified the following day at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing focusing on AI. She emphasized that, while the office she leads is new, DOE has been working on AI for decades. She said that the national labs have already begun finding ways to use AI to improve wildfire mapping and electricity transmission but are also engaging in red teaming to identify the risks that new AI tools might present.

Fu argued throughout the hearing that U.S. strength in AI hinges on its domestic capabilities but that, while some foreign actors are certainly looking to use AI for ill, the country cannot completely sever its research from the rest of the world.

“Our ability as an S&T superpower really comes from having the best-in-class facilities and the talent, but also our ability to work with others around the world so that we avoid strategic surprise,” she said.