Federal AI and IT Research and Development Spending Analysis

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This resource offers budget-level data on U.S. federal AI and IT R&D spending, useful for policymakers and researchers tracking how government investment shapes AI development priorities and capabilities.

Metadata

Importance: 35/100organizational reportanalysis

Summary

This resource provides an analytical breakdown of U.S. federal government spending on artificial intelligence and information technology research and development. It examines budget allocations across agencies, trends in AI investment, and the scale of federal commitment to AI and IT infrastructure. The analysis serves as a reference for understanding how public funds are directed toward AI development and governance.

Key Points

•Tracks federal budget allocations specifically designated for AI and IT R&D across multiple government agencies.
•Provides spending trends over time, enabling comparison of how federal AI investment has grown or shifted.
•Highlights which agencies (e.g., DoD, NSF, DARPA) receive the largest shares of AI/IT R&D funding.
•Useful for understanding the public sector's role in driving AI capabilities development and research priorities.
•Relevant to policy discussions about whether federal AI investment aligns with safety and governance objectives.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
US Government Technology Workforce	Analysis	--

1 FactBase fact citing this source

Entity	Property	Value	As Of
US Government Technology Workforce	Federal AI R&D Spending	$3.3 billion	Jan 2025

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Federal AI and IT Research and Development Spending Analysis | Federal Budget IQ 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 January 07, 2025 

 
 
 
 Federal AI and IT Research and Development Spending Analysis 

 
 By
 Maureen Holohan &bull;
 
 
 
 Budget Policy 
 

 
 Technology 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Credit: Adobe Stock 
 
 
 Federal investment in Research and Development (R&D) to support transformative advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), networking, supercomputing, and big data continues to grow within traditional R&D-focused agencies and to expand across government. Figures included in the FY25 budget were released on November 27, when the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) within the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) completed its Congressionally-required supplement to the President’s FY25 budget. NSTC is tasked with ensuring that science and technology programs and policy decisions across government align with the President’s objectives. For this budget supplement, NSTC relied on two of its subcommittees: the Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Committee (MLAI), with analysis done by the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office (NAIIO) established by the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, and the Network and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program, which was founded under the terms of the High Performance Computing Act of 1991.

 Now in its 33rd year, the NITRD Program continues to provide the R&D foundation that promotes enduring U.S. technological leadership to meet the Nation’s needs for advanced information technologies…[and] will help ensure that IT continues to be a major driving force for the Nation’s economy and security, and the health and prosperity of its citizens. 

 NITRD Press release

November 27

 
 RESOURCE TOTAL AND TOP AGENCIES

 The NSTC reports resources and activities across government for programs that represent significant information technology R&D and foundational work in artificial intelligence. As seen in Chart I , annual and supplemental funding for fiscal years 2021- 2025 show an increase of $2.8 billion over the five-year period, growth of 6% per year. The amounts include all reported funding for federal agency IT and AI R&D programs, including supplemental funds, except for classified programs.

 

 *Classified program funding not included in NITRD Report. Chart I: Total Federal IT R&D and AI Funding (Unclassified), FY21-FY25 Budget Request. Source: NITRD/NAIIO Supplements to the President’s FY23, FY24 and FY25 Budgets.

 
 As we saw last year, the agencies with the biggest IT and AI R&D footprints are the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (counted separately from DOD), and the Department of Ener

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