The clearest public statements of where AI research is expected to go are the funding plans of governments. The United States published a nine-strategy National AI R&D Strategic Plan in May 2023 and began rewriting it in April 2025, and Canada has run the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy since 2017. These documents list priorities and budgets; they are not forecasts of what AI will be able to do.
Key takeaways
- The U.S. 2023 plan lists nine strategies, from long-term fundamental research to international collaboration, and was issued by a National Science and Technology Council committee.
- On April 29, 2025, a federal notice asked for public input on rewriting that plan for the next three to five years.
- The July 2025 U.S. AI Action Plan asks the forthcoming plan to prioritize research on interpretability, control, and robustness; a published replacement could not be confirmed as of October 24, 2026.
- Canada's strategy is split into commercialization, standards, and talent and research, with phase two funded at CAD 443.8 million in Budget 2021 and CAD 174 million in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.
- A plan shows intent and money, so its status, date, and horizon matter more than its wording.
The U.S. plan: nine strategies, one added in 2023
The National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan 2023 Update was issued in May 2023 by the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence of the National Science and Technology Council. It follows earlier plans from 2016 and 2019, reaffirms eight strategies, and adds a ninth on international collaboration. The list reads as a research agenda in plain terms: invest in fundamental and responsible research, develop methods for human-AI collaboration, address ethical, legal, and societal implications, ensure safety and security, build shared public datasets and test environments, evaluate systems through standards and benchmarks, understand workforce needs, expand public-private partnerships, and coordinate internationally.
Most items concern how AI is studied, tested, and governed rather than any one technology. A reader looking for a prediction about a specific capability will not find one.
The rewrite: what changed in 2025
On April 29, 2025, the NITRD National Coordination Office, acting for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, published a request for information in the Federal Register on a 2025 plan. It asked how the 2023 update should be rewritten and set a horizon of the next three to five years, with comments due May 29, 2025.
In July 2025, America's AI Action Plan referred to a forthcoming National AI R&D Strategic Plan. It asked that plan to prioritize theoretical, computational, and experimental research, and fundamental advances in AI interpretability, control, and robustness. The same document describes the problem in its own words: the inner workings of frontier systems are poorly understood, and developers often cannot explain why a model produced a given output. It also proposes a technology development program led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency with the Center for AI Standards and Innovation and the National Science Foundation. Searches of official sites on October 24, 2026 found no published replacement plan, so the 2023 update remains the latest finished edition that could be confirmed.
Canada: a funded strategy in three parts
The Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy began in 2017 with CAD 125 million from Budget 2017 for the first phase, which focused on attracting and retaining AI talent. Phase two runs from 2021 to 2031 and centers on adoption. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada lists three pillars and their funding lines:
- Commercialization: CAD 60 million for the National AI Institutes (Amii, Mila, and the Vector Institute) in Budget 2021, plus CAD 24 million from the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.
- Standards: CAD 8.6 million in Budget 2021.
- Talent and research: CAD 208 million for CIFAR over 2021-22 to 2030-31, and CAD 40 million for compute capacity.
The department's page, last modified on July 30, 2026, describes phase two as building on phase one and does not announce a replacement strategy.
The two plans side by side
| Feature | United States | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| Main document | National AI R&D Strategic Plan, 2023 Update | Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, phase two |
| Issued by | NSTC Select Committee on AI | Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, with CIFAR as delivery partner |
| Organizing idea | Nine strategies | Three pillars |
| Money stated in the plan | No budget lines in the strategy list | CAD amounts per pillar |
| Status in October 2026 | Rewrite requested in 2025; replacement not confirmed | Phase two runs to 2031 |
How to read a research plan
- What is the document type: a strategy, a funding decision, or a law?
- Does it state an amount and a period, or only goals?
- Who issued it, and has it been replaced or reopened for comment?
- Does it describe research questions, or predict outcomes?
FAQ
Does a national research plan predict what AI will do?
No. The documents above set priorities for research and spending. The U.S. strategies, for example, concern topics such as safety, standards, and workforce, and the Canadian pillars concern commercialization, standards, and talent.
Is the U.S. plan from 2023 still in force?
It is the latest edition confirmed in official sources. A 2025 request for information and the July 2025 AI Action Plan both point to a replacement, but no published replacement was found on October 24, 2026.
Is the Canadian strategy only about research?
No. One of its three pillars is research and talent, while the others cover commercialization and standards, and the first phase of CAD 125 million was aimed at talent.
Do these plans bind private companies?
The sources cited here describe federal priorities and public funding. They are not regulations, and company research is outside their scope.
Related reading
- Problems that slow AI research
- AI used in scientific discovery
- A review of recent advances and open challenges in AI
- Toy problems and their limits in AI research
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Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan 2023 Update, Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, National Science and Technology Council, May 2023
- Request for Information on the Development of a 2025 National AI R&D Strategic Plan, Federal Register, April 29, 2025
- America's AI Action Plan, The White House, July 2025
- Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, page modified July 30, 2026