Expanding AI Voices Act

This bill amends the National AI Initiative Act to create a new program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) that awards competitive grants to certain colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations to broaden participation in AI research, education, and workforce development, especially for groups historically underrepresented in STEM.

Sec. 2, Expanding capacity in artificial intelligence: The NSF Director, consulting other federal agencies, must make competitive, merit-reviewed awards to eligible institutions or nonprofit organizations (or consortia) to increase U.S. capacity and partnerships for AI research and development. Eligible institutions include those not among the top 100 in federal R&D spending over the prior three years, historically Black colleges, minority-serving institutions, Tribal colleges, and consortia of these. Awards may fund partnerships with other universities, nonprofits, federal agencies, governments, and private entities, including AI research institutes. Grantees must use funds for activities such as developing or expanding AI research programs, faculty recruitment and development, bridge programs for graduate study, providing access to computing and data resources, community building for public-private collaboration, workshops, integrating ethics into AI education, and other capacity-building activities. The NSF Director must conduct outreach to eligible institutions and engage participants from all U.S. regions, especially underserved and historically underrepresented groups. Awards must complement, not duplicate, existing programs. The Director may also consider an applicant's support for diverse students (including first-generation), geographic diversity, and relative resource constraints. The bill defines key terms like historically Black college, minority-serving institution, nonprofit organization, and Tribal college.