Government, business officials tout AI work
Government and private-sector officials are recognizing Oak Ridge’s computing power as a valuable part of a new race for artificial intelligenceI.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright; U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty R-Tenn.; chairman of House Committee on Energy and Waters, Chuck Fleischmann R-Tenn.; and Greg Brockman, Open-AI president, visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory in February.
Wright and Brockman participated in what the Department of Energy called a 1,000 Scientist AI jam session that day.
More than 1,000 scientists got to try out ORNL’s AI models to test research applications, evaluate model responses, and help improve future AI systems, a DOE news release stated.
Joining them were scientists from nine labs, including ORNL, Argonne, Berkeley, Brookhaven, Idaho, Livermore, Los Alamos, Pacific Northwest and Princeton Plasma Physics.
“We’re at the start of a new Manhattan Project,” Brockman said. “With President Trump’s leadership, the United States will win the global AI race. But first we must unleash our energy dominance and restore American competitiveness.
“Advancing scientific research is one of the most-promising applications of AI,” he said. “We’re proud to work with the U.S. national labs to put our advanced technology into the hands of our country’s top scientists.
“OpenAI believes working closely with the U.S. government is essential to unlocking AI’s full potential,” Brockman said. “I want to thank Secretary Wright for his commitment to ensuring the U.S. continues to lead on AI, including through public-private collaborations like today’s event.”
As with the previous Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Wright also praised Oak Ridge’s nuclear research and development.
He toured the future site of a Tennessee Valley Authority’s Clinch River Reactor, a small modular reactor to generate electric power, which Granholm previously visited.
