Increasing Cyber and Physical Security of Global Artificial Intelligence Research and Development

Background
The Department of State’s Office of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF) housed within the Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). ISN/NDF invites non-profit/non-governmental organizations, international organizations, educational institutions, for-profit organizations, and U.S. Federal Departments and Independent Agencies to submit proposals for projects that will advance ISN/NDF’s nonproliferation and foreign assistance mission by convening the artificial intelligence (AI) community of interest, to identify security vulnerabilities around AI systems and pilot implementation, and socialization of security increases.

Grant Details
ISN/NDF seeks to enable the global AI community to develop and adopt robust protective mechanisms and integrate safety, security, and attributability features to prevent enablement of WMD capabilities by advanced AI. Specifically, ISN/NDF will focus on two objectives: support the development of security best practices particular to AI systems; and apply these best practices to increase protections to secure and defend AI systems against malicious activity. These protections include but are not limited to: secure by design, regular review of security measures, vulnerability management processes, robust insider threat detection programs, differentiated access, and know your customer services.

Eligibility Requirements
The following organizations are eligible to apply: Domestic Not for Profit Organizations, Foreign Not for Profit Organizations, Foreign Public Entities (FPEs)/Public International Organizations (PIOs), Private Institutions of Higher Education, Public Institutions of Higher Education, U.S. Federal Departments and Independent Agencies, For-Profit Organizations. Applicants are not required to include funding from other donors. However, applications that include additional in-kind and/or cash contributions from non-U.S. Government sources will be more competitive.

Period of Performance
Support may range between 12-18 months depending upon the characteristics of the proposal and deliberations.

Grant Value
$2,000,000