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Dive Brief:
- The Biden administration brought together leaders from artificial intelligence companies, hyperscalers, data center operators and utilities on Sept. 12 to craft a strategy to meet the nation’s goals. infrastructure needs for AI projectsaccording to a White House press release.
- AI requires copious amounts of electricity, water and land for data centers as well as factories to make semiconductors, not to mention the workers to build and customize everything. Attendees discussed strategies to meet the clean energy, permitting and manpower requirements to develop large-scale data centers and the power infrastructure needed for advanced AI.
- The Biden administration also announced a new interagency task force to coordinate federal policies to ensure they advance AI data center development in line with the economic, national security, and environmental goals of the White House It is also increasing assistance to agencies that manage data center permits.
Diving knowledge:
The rise of AI has huge implications for the construction industry: the seemingly amorphous technology relies on huge amounts of physical infrastructure and natural resources. The trend is driving demand for AI-ready data centers, albeit many customers express mistrust of AI.
The rapid growth of energy-intensive technology has raised concerns that AI is straining the nation’s aging power grid. an average ChatGPT query is used almost 10 times as much electricity to process as a Google search, and Goldman Sachs estimates that data center energy demand will increase by 160% by 2030 to accommodate AI. At the same time, carbon dioxide emissions from data centers may more than double between 2022 and 2030, according to Goldman Sachs.
This increase in energy demand could derail the Biden administration’s goal of decarbonizing the electricity sector by 2035 to mitigate climate change. That’s why the White House wants to ensure that clean energy powers future AI infrastructure, according to the statement.
Last week, tech titans like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang and Alphabet president and CIO spoke about these challenges Ruth Porat. Only OpenAI wants to spend tens of billions in AI infrastructure in the US, such as data centers, capacity and power transmission, and semiconductor manufacturing, according to Data Center Knowledge.
The Biden administration also wants to make sure the AI boom creates jobs for Americans. Roundtable participants discussed ways to create good-paying jobs, including roles for plumbers and electricians, according to the release.
Biden has continued to push for responsible AI development with his 2023 Executive Order on AI i subsequent July actionsand these new initiatives advance that goal. According to the White House, the new efforts include:
- AI Data Center Infrastructure Working Group: Led by the National Economic Council, the National Security Council, and the Office of the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, it will identify existing authorities and areas where legislative action is needed to support AI data center development, including other actions.
- Allow help: In addition to increasing technical assistance to federal, state, and local authorities managing data center permits, the Permits Council will work with AI data center developers to establish timelines for action by the federal agency. It will also allocate funds to agencies that expedite assessments FAST-41 covered clean energy projects that support data centers.
- National permissions: The US Army Corps of Engineers will identify national permits that can help accelerate the construction of eligible AI data centers and share this information with AI data center developers to accelerate projects.
- DOE AI Data Center Engagement Team: The Department of Energy is creating a team to leverage the programs to support AI data center development. DOE has a range of resources, including loans, grants, tax credits and technical assistance, to help data center owners and operators secure clean and reliable energy solutions. The agency also plans to host a series of meetings with industry members to generate solutions.
