Democrats Are Embracing AI for the Dumbest Possible Reason

[Celerity]

Just say “China,” and everyone except AOC suddenly supports massive data center build-outs that will torch the planet.

https://newrepublic.com/article/193870/democrats-ai-china-data-centers

https://archive.ph/30O05


Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado on April 9

Donald Trump wants to save the coal industry. Earlier this week, he signed a rash of executive orders to reopen shuttered coal plants, subsidize unprofitable ones, and—through legally dubious means—tear up regulations that “discriminate” against coal at every level of government, all the while opening up millions of acres of public lands for coal mining. The order further instructs the Department of Energy to explore the question of whether coal-fired power plants could provide energy to new AI data centers. That suite of orders builds on an announcement from the Department of Energy last week that it had identified 16 federal sites that are “uniquely positioned for rapid data center construction, including in-place energy infrastructure.”

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Experts are skeptical that Trump will revive King Coal, however much energy AI developers say they need. Coal currently accounts for about 16 percent of electricity generation in the United States, down from more than 40 percent in 2011. Half of the country’s remaining fleet of coal-fired power plants are scheduled to be retired through 2030. Given that coal is now significantly more expensive than other sources, companies and investors aren’t especially eager to pour billions of dollars into plants that typically operate for 40 to 60 years. Researchers at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, or IEEFA, expect that all of the country’s remaining coal plants could close by 2040. That’s good news for the people who may now be spared the effects of coal pollution, which are estimated to have killed around half a million people, in one study of Medicare records, between 1999 and 2020.

But a striking number of congressional Democrats seem to agree with Trump on the importance of pouring limitless amounts of energy into AI in service of a vaguely worded set of national security priorities. During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday—featuring former Google and Alphabet chief Eric Schmidt—Democrats adopted an odd position: It is imperative that the U.S. do whatever it takes to beat China in the race for AI dominance, and Donald Trump is making that harder. “Instead of winning the future,” ranking Democrat Frank Pallone said in his opening statement, “Trump’s economic turmoil could send America’s tech leadership into a tailspin.” While noting the need for safeguards around privacy and energy bills, several Democrats praised Schmidt’s call for energy build-outs for AI. Schmidt’s opening statement contended that the “technological revolution and the prosperity” AI promises “depend entirely on a modern, resilient, and vastly expanded energy infrastructure.” He also argued that the “future of computation” could require “potentially 100x more energy.” He put it more bluntly later on in the hearing: “Let everybody build everything. We need it all now.”

Colorado Democrat Diana Degette affirmed that, “We’re going to need a large increase in all types of energy to not just deal with current demands of consumers but AI.” So long as the White House continues to undermine due process, deport academics, and defund federal research, Jake Auchincloss asked, “can America beat China on AI?” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a lonely voice in raising concerns about the planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions that would result from bringing so much new fossil fuel capacity online.

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