NIST Expands AI Consortium’s Scope, Calls for New Members

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Expansion of AI Research Support: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is growing its support for collaborative research in artificial intelligence (AI) by extending the scope of its AI-focused consortium, now named the NIST Artificial Intelligence Consortium. This name change reflects augmented goals and missions beyond its former designation as the AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC).
Consortium’s New Focus: The newly oriented consortium aims to concentrate on AI measurement, innovation, and adoption. It will focus on building an AI evaluation ecosystem, investing in AI-enabled science, and promoting the use of U.S.-developed AI technology and systems.
Member Recruitment: NIST is inviting new technically capable organizations to join the consortium to tackle the challenges associated with AI development and deployment. This move aims to improve AI measurement efforts and harness additional community interests and capabilities.
Implementation of Strategic Goals: These efforts align with NIST’s Strategy for American Technology Leadership in the 21st Century, supporting the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 and America’s AI Action Plan. The consortium will collaboratively establish a new measurement science to facilitate the use of AI.
Formation of Task Groups: The consortium has six specialized task groups:
- AI Testing, Evaluation, Verification, and Validation (AI TEVV) Zero Draft Task Group
- Annotation for AI Risks & Validity Task Group
- AI Evaluation and Measurement Methods Task Group
- Bias Effects and Notable Generative AI Limitations (BENGAL) Group
- AI Documentation Cards Task Group
- Chemical and Biological Security Task Group

These groups are tasked with developing tools and methods for evaluation, measurement, risk assessment, bias mitigation, and documentation.

Call for Membership: NIST is inviting letters of interest from organizations with relevant technical capabilities, with membership determined on a first-come, first-served basis. Existing consortium members must sign an amendment agreeing to new consortium changes.
Research Agreements: New and existing member organizations will enter into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NIST, ensuring structured collaboration within the expanded consortium framework.