President Donald Trump's 2021 budget may be looking to cut money for noncommercial and international media, but it doubles the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) budget for the development of artificial intelligence and quantum computing and makes other investments in a high-tech future.
The budget proposes investing $2 billion in AI and another $860 million on quantum science over the next two years.
The National Institute of Science and Technology will get $718 million as part of the mission to make sure the U.S. leads in quantum computing and AI, including the interoperability of AI-enabled systems.
The budget, which Congress must approve, would also create an "advanced manufacturing institute" to ensure that tech innovations developed here are manufactured here, another Trump priority.
In addition, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the president’s chief spectrum policy adviser, would get $25 million toward spectrum management systems to “more efficiently" free up added spectrum for 5G wireless service. The NTIA oversees government spectrum users.
