The Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) was first authorized in 2022 to support use-inspired and translational research, accelerate the development and use of federally funded research, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness. At that time, Congress identified 10 initial key technology priority areas and tasked TIP with annually reviewing and, as appropriate, updating the list of key technology focus areas. NSF recently invited public input on the current and potential new areas of technology focus.
FABBS responded to the request for information (RFI: Key Technology Focus Areas for the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships), recommending expanding the scope of all priorities to include explicit consideration of human users, human/AI teams, interactions, and limitations in the creation and development of technologies.
More specifically, FABBS offered additions to the following priorities:
- Priority 1: Include ‘human-computer interaction, AI empowering jobs and workforce, and the iterative evolution of AI and human intelligence’.
- Priority 2: Add ‘human-robot interaction’.
- Priorities 5 and 6: Add ‘human cognition and decision making’.
- Priority 8: Consider human user errors and vulnerabilities.
FABBS cautioned that, across all priorities, technological innovation is never purely technical but emerges from and reshapes economic, social, and political systems. Sociotechnical research helps ensure that new technologies are developed with a clear understanding of their real-world impacts, and advance effective and responsible outcomes.
