Conflict of Interest Disclosure

The conflict-of-interest policy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (http://www.nationalacademies.org/coi) prohibits the appointment of an individual to a committee authoring a Consensus Study Report if the individual has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the task to be performed. An exception to this prohibition is permitted if the National Academies determines that the conflict is unavoidable and the conflict is publicly disclosed. A determination of a conflict of interest for an individual is not an assessment of that individual’s actual behavior or character or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest.
Dr. Koumoutsakos has a conflict in relation to his service on the Committee on Foundation Models for Scientific Discovery and Innovation because he is currently on sabbatical at Google DeepMind, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. He also holds stock in Google.

The National Academies has concluded that for the committee to accomplish the tasks for which it was established, its membership should include at least one member with current experience working directly with industry leaders developing products or services using foundational models in the US and internationally. As described in his biographical summary, Dr. Koumoutsakos is working with researchers at Google’s DeepMind, a leading developer of foundation models, including tools that have contributed to research at Department of Energy national laboratories.
The National Academies has determined that the experience and expertise of Dr. Koumoutsakos is needed for the committee to accomplish the task for which it has been established. The National Academies could not find another available individual with the equivalent experience and expertise who did not have a conflict of interest. Therefore, the National Academies has concluded that the conflict is unavoidable.
The National Academies believes that Dr. Koumoutsakos can serve effectively as a member of the committee, and the committee can produce an objective report, considering the composition of the committee, the work to be performed, and the procedures to be followed in completing the study.

Dr. Kearns has a conflict in relation to his service on the Committee on Foundation Models for Scientific Discovery and Innovation because of his position at Amazon Web Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon. A portion of Dr. Kearns’s compensation is in Amazon Stock.

The National Academies has concluded that for the committee to accomplish the tasks for which it was established, its membership should include one or more members with direct current experience working with different aspects of industry leading foundational models. As described in his biographical summary, as an Amazon Scholar and Founding Director of the Warren Center for Network and Data Sciences, Dr. Kearns has extensive experience working with the intricate aspects of algorithm design and computational learning for foundation models and their use in scientific discovery and innovation.
The National Academies has determined that the experience and expertise of Dr. Kearns is needed for the committee to accomplish the task for which it has been established. The National Academies could not find another available individual with the equivalent experience and expertise who did not have a conflict of interest. Therefore, the National Academies has concluded that the conflict is unavoidable.
The National Academies believes that Dr. Kearns can serve effectively as a member of the committee, and the committee can produce an objective report, considering the composition of the committee, the work to be performed, and the procedures to be followed in completing the study.