Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are announcing their support for two new AI bills aimed at putting a federal moratorium on the constructions of data centers. Sanders is introducing his bill, the AI Data Center Moratorium Act, on Wednesday.
“AI and robotics are creating the most sweeping technological revolution in the history of humanity. Congress is way behind where it should be in understanding the nature of this revolution and its impacts,” Sanders says in a statement to Rolling Stone. “We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity. We need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue.”
The legislation aims to slow down the development of AI, and to give Congress a chance to catch up with proper regulation. Sanders is calling for an immediate federal moratorium on AI data centers until national safeguards are in place to ensure that AI is safe and effective and won’t harm “health, privacy, civil rights, and the future of humanity.” The bill also calls for regulation to ensure that the economic gains of AI will benefit workers, “not just the wealthy owners of Big Tech,” as well as laws to protect the environment and prevent increased electricity prices for communities.
On Tuesday night, Sanders spoke on the Senate floor for half an hour about AI risks, impacts, and the oligarchs running tech companies. At one point he brought up the impact AI has on the environment, and addressed how AI requires large data centers that need a massive amount of electricity and water.
“For example, Meta is building a data center in Louisiana, the size of Manhattan, that will use as much electricity as 1.6 million homes,” said Sanders. He stood in front of a sign stating that wholesale electricity costs have increased up to 267 percent in areas near data centers in the past five years. “This increased demand will drive a massive expansion of fossil fuels when we are already seeing the devastating impacts of the global crisis of climate change.”
As Rolling Stone reported in November, an Amazon data center in Oregon worsened a water-pollution problem in the state that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages. Nearly 3,000 data centers are under construction or planned across the U.S., with 4,000 already in operation.
Sanders told CNN’s State of the Union in December, “Frankly, I think you have got to slow this process down.”
“If there are no jobs and humans won’t be needed for most things, how do people get an income to feed their families, to get health care, or to pay the rent?” said Sanders. “There’s not been one serious word of discussion in the Congress about that reality.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been vocal about the harms of AI as well, continuing to fight for passage of her DEFIANCE Act, which provides civilian recourse for survivors of deepfake AI abuse. Similar to how the data-center-moratorium bill is structured, DEFIANCE was introduced in both the Senate and the House as a bicameral bill. It has passed the Senate but has yet to pass the House.
Today at 4 p.m., Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are set to talk about the legislation, which Sanders will take the lead on sponsoring in the Senate. Ocasio-Cortez will follow-up Sanders’ Senate bill with a similar bill in the House of Representatives.
