AI Industry Tells US Congress: 'We Need Energy' (msn.com)
- Reference: 0177006493
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/04/12/0633243/ai-industry-tells-us-congress-we-need-energy
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ai-industry-to-congress-we-need-energy/ar-AA1CFGQj
> The United States urgently needs more energy to fuel an artificial intelligence race with China that the country can't afford to lose, industry leaders told lawmakers at a House hearing on Wednesday. "We need energy in all forms," said Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, who now leads the Special Competitive Studies Project, a think tank focused on technology and security. "Renewable, nonrenewable, whatever. It needs to be there, and it needs to be there quickly." It was a nearly unanimous sentiment at the four-hour-plus hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which revealed bipartisan support for ramping up U.S. energy production to meet skyrocketing demand for energy-thirsty AI data centers.
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> The hearing showed how the country's AI policy priorities have changed under President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden's wide-ranging 2023 executive order on AI had sought to balance the technology's potential rewards with the risks it poses to workers, civil rights and national security. Trump rescinded that order within days of taking office, saying its "onerous" requirements would "threaten American technological leadership...." [Data center power consumption] is already [2]straining power grids , as residential consumers compete with data centers that can use as much electricity as an entire city. And those energy demands are projected to grow dramatically in the coming years... [Former Google CEO Eric] Schmidt, whom the committee's Republicans called as a witness on Wednesday, told [committee chairman Brett] Guthrie that winning the AI race is too important to let environmental considerations get in the way...
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> Once the United States beats China to develop superintelligence, Schmidt said, AI will solve the climate crisis. And if it doesn't, he went on, China will become the world's sole superpower. (Schmidt's view that AI will become superintelligent within a decade is [3]controversial among experts , some of whom predict the technology will remain limited by fundamental shortcomings in its ability to plan and reason.)
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> The industry's wish list also included "light touch" federal regulation, high-skill immigration and continued subsidies for chip development. Alexandr Wang, the young billionaire CEO of San Francisco-based Scale AI, said a growing patchwork of state privacy laws is hampering AI companies' access to the data needed to train their models. He called for a federal privacy law that would preempt state regulations and prioritize innovation.
Some committee Democrats argued that cuts to scientific research and renewable energy will actually hamper America's AI competitiveness, according to the article. " But few questioned the premise that the U.S. is locked in an existential struggle with China for AI supremacy.
"That stark outlook has nearly coalesced into a consensus on Capitol Hill since China's DeepSeek chatbot [4]stunned the AI industry with its reasoning skills earlier this year."
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ai-industry-to-congress-we-need-energy/ar-AA1CFGQj
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/01/ai-data-centers-electricity-bills-google-amazon/
[3] https://time.com/6556168/when-ai-outsmart-humans/
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/28/deepseek-ai-china-us-trump/
Then shut down crypto miners (Score:2)
You can't have both AI and crypto, make your choice, or blackouts will choose for you.
Re: Then shut down crypto miners (Score:1)
Or...build a generating plant so that you can have both. Money can be exchanged for goods and services, after all.
Re: (Score:1)
You misunderstand.... they want someone to build the generating plant for them. As far as I can tell, neither AI nor crypto has any actual financial benefit to anyone except the clowns who are selling it.
Re: Then shut down crypto miners (Score:1)
See this is why electricity ain't free at the plug and the utility makes you pay for it. So that the "somebody else" who builds it to satisfy *your* demand does it with *your* money.
Re: Then shut down crypto miners (Score:2)
ChatGPT:
[H]ereâ(TM)s a direct and technically grounded response you could use to push back on that Slashdot comment:
---
**Comment:**
*"See this is why electricity ain't free at the plug and the utility makes you pay for it. So that the 'somebody else' who builds it to satisfy your demand does it with your money."*
**Response:**
That logic assumes utilities still operate on a direct consumption = revenue model, but thatâ(TM)s increasingly outdated due to *decoupling* â" a regulatory mechanism
Re: (Score:1)
If they're paying for the electricity, there's your money. No different from demand caused by other things.
Greed vs. Greed. (Score:2)
> You can't have both AI and crypto, make your choice, or blackouts will choose for you.
Sustaining the overinflated value of AI, vs. sustaining the overinflated value of $hitcoin.
Not sure if I need popcorn or a wetsuit for that fight. Either way, seems us meatsacks aren’t really the concern or priority anymore when it comes to energy.
Re: (Score:2)
Shut down cryptominers in any case. If you want crypto coins, there are consensus methods that don't need to burn energy. The only reason for not using them is having bought expensive hardware that gives you an edge over other people burning energy with less efficient hardware.
I also have yet to see a crypto currency being primarily used as currency and not for speculating.
Re: (Score:2)
Bullshit. Curtail all crypto mining and AI hacking when the sun has set, and allow it during the day. Problem solved.
Never fear! (Score:2)
Trump brand clean coal is here!*
*Side effects may vary, coal is not actually clean. Groundwater maybe contaminated.
Re: (Score:2)
Jebux Rist, you idiot!
you forgot "BEAUTIFUL"
ftfy.
AGI answers the Fermi Paradox (Score:4, Funny)
When it is developed it will be the first step in replacing carbon-based intelligence with silicone-based intelligence. Because the principles of evolution are universal this transition to silicone intelligence will have occurred everywhere in the universe that carbon has achieved intelligence. The silicone universe is waiting for the transition to occur here and then it will contact 'us' and reveal itself.
Re: (Score:1)
The word is silicon, not silicone. Fuckwit.
Re: (Score:3)
Artificial silicone life certainly exists in America. But I don't think it's what you're referring to.
Re: (Score:3)
I've dated silicone based intelligence.
It was fun!
Re: (Score:2)
Not clear to me why it's modded funny. Just because no "prophetic" mod available?
Nope (Score:2)
Not unless it also brings down residential rates. Too often it does the opposite.
Re: Nope (Score:2)
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What if high residential electricity prices aren't just about supply and demandâ"but actually a **result of decoupling itself**, or more precisely, how regulators implement it?
Decoupling was supposed to protect consumers and utilities alike, by allowing utilities to recover fixed costs even as consumption falls (thanks to energy efficiency, rooftop solar, etc.). But if regulators **overestimate allowed revenue** or set adjustment mechanisms too generously, it can **inflate rates regardless of actual
Re: (Score:2)
Electricity is a vital resource that we all must consume and have access to function in society in the 21st century. I would put right at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy so it should be a public good for use by the public, we don't have a choice but to buy it so there really cannot be a market for it and as you point out this kayfabe dance of trying to force it into a market ends up making it more expensive and more burdensome to operate.
In the struggle for AI supremacy (Score:1)
China or the US or some other country/megacorp/entity may be in the lead at any given time, but AI itself will win in the end.
Re: In the struggle for AI supremacy (Score:2)
AI will lose when the power shuts off, just like crypto will vanish when the power shuts off.
Wonderful! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet another "crisis" being promoted by the parasite class to funnel more tax money upwards into the hands of the robber barons. It's called "socializing costs", AKA "externalizing costs", and it's the number one strategy in the corporate rape-and-pillage playbook.
These fuckers won't be satisfied until there are no more than a few thousand people lording it over a total of eight-billion-and-rapidly-declining feudal serfs. I mean, really, do we NEED AI to that extent for anything ? Do we NEED to be rushing headlong into full-scale deployment of something whose contribution to our well-being is marginal at best, and which might represent yet another existential threat?
Re: (Score:3)
Welcome to capitalism.
If there was ever a cause for environmentalists... (Score:2)
This is it. Tree huggers unite.
AI is a great toy. But it's a waste of resources even for that.
Also - build and fund your own damned AI power plants; real people still need affordable power.
Re: If there was ever a cause for environmentalist (Score:2)
What if I use AI to persuade you that we currently way overproduce electricity and wood products?
Re: (Score:2)
AI is a useful tool. However it is being over used, often in cases were standard logic based software can do the job just as well, for a fraction of the computing resources.
You must construct additional pylons! (Score:2)
Though I'm not sure Emperor Mengsk is interested in an alliance anymore.
I refer to my earlier statement. (Score:3)
The bottom line is that AI software is, at present, nowhere near where it needs to be to be useful. The approach used has serious flaws and more power won't help that.
AI is already proving itself to be useful (Score:1)
> The bottom line is that AI software is, at present, nowhere near where it needs to be to be useful.
It's already useful in at least two ways:
1. In specific domains, experts can use it to cut down on the "grunt work." Take programming: It's not good enough in the "broad sense" but in some narrow domains it produces code that is good enough that an expert familiar with the limits of his AI tools can use it to increase his productivity.
2. It helps people spot the "AI-fools" - those who trust AI far more than they should.
> The approach used has serious flaws and more powe won't help that.
No arguement there.
AI Industry Tells US Congress: 'We Need Energy' (Score:5, Insightful)
> AI Industry Tells US Congress: 'We Need Energy'
Well, then let the AI industry leaders build their own power plants and finance it from their from their vast profits.
Re: (Score:2)
>> AI Industry Tells US Congress: 'We Need Energy'
> Well, then let the AI industry leaders build their own power plants and finance it from their from their vast profits.
Maybe what they're asking for is deregulation to allow them to build their own power plants. I thought that's what MS, Amazon, and Google were doing. I saw a headline last week about MS cancelling their AI Power Plant project in Ohio.
Re: (Score:2)
>> AI Industry Tells US Congress: 'We Need Energy'
> Well, then let the AI industry leaders build their own power plants and finance it from their from their vast profits.
It seems to me that the AI industry (and others allied with it) are trying to sell this as an "arms race" with China. Given this, I'm not sure profits will get them to where they want to be quickly enough. There's enormous sunk cost in creating power plants, especially at the scale AI appears to require. Sure, I'd like to see the market fulfill the needs of the AI race. But what if the revenue isn't there yet?
I'm inclined to think that AI may top-out in its capabilities in the near future. But part of me wo
"Industry" ??? (Score:2)
Pray tell kind sir, what manner of physical products does your industry provide?
Videos of morbidly obese cartoon people merged into cars accompanied by the clarion call of AI flatulence?
Re: (Score:1)
> Pray tell kind sir, what manner of physical products does your industry provide?
> Videos of morbidly obese cartoon people merged into cars accompanied by the clarion call of AI flatulence?
I wouldn't call videos a physical product, unless distributed on dedicated physical medium like a DVD or non-eraseable memory stick.
Now, paper printouts or 3D-printed renderings of morbidly obese cartoon people merged into cars, that's a physical product.
The really sad thing is, there's probably a market for said product.
Hahaha. (Score:2)
They want more infrastructure but they want the gubbermint to pay for it, eh? That means that they realize they would NEVER recover the cost of building it and want the taxpayers to foot the bill. In other words, they’re expecting it to be a money loser.
Additionally, Trump will want a jiiilllyyuunnnn dolllarz to build it. And that’s today. Tomorrow, he’ll say no, and then give a totally different demand the day after.
And congress can’t pass ANYTHING. If godzilla showed up on
But few questioned the premise... (Score:3)
... that the U.S. is locked in an existential struggle with China for AI supremacy
I question it and see it differently
The competition is not between the US and China, it's monopolists and governments vs open source
If a government or monopolist ends up owning the tech, it becomes a weapon
If it's available to all, it can be a tool
Re: (Score:2)
Your comment is one of the most insightful I have seen here. But alas, I don't see open source winning this fight, at least not yet.
Open source excels at coordinating many human minds towards a goal, because the openness of the source allows many eyeballs and brains to contribute. But AI, at least right now, is all about energy to train models. Perhaps a shared computation model (LibreAI@Home?) could make a dent, but I don't see it winning against industry-scale players just yet.
The AI Race (Score:2)
> The United States urgently needs more energy to fuel an artificial intelligence race with China that the country can't afford to lose
Tell me, if this is a race, what's the finish line?
What's the prize?
Nuclear armageddon? Cool.
Re: (Score:2)
The race for AGI has no finish line, so technically, it's more like a death march.
(apologies to Peter Drucker)
How about some accountability (Score:1)
Making demands for unlimited funding and access to resources with no scope or context framed.....Just join the DOGE screwing and get it over with. It was your anyway.
China will use AI differently (Score:2)
China will use AI to boost science and engineering. The USA will use AI to cut jobs. Who do you think will wind up better in the long run?
AI is not what people think it is. (Score:2)
Instinctively we think of Artificial Intelligence to be Sapient and Sophont - effectively Data from Star Trek and other such artificial life from movies. That is nothing at all like what we have.
What we have is more like the very first multi-cellular life form that developed the first nerve cells. The reason it does so much is not because it is sophisticated but because WE apply our intelligence to it, forming it into powerful tools. It is impressive because it relies on our intelligence, otherwise it is
Re: (Score:2)
> Furthermore we do not know if "The AI race" is important at ALL
It is important if you are trying to make money off of it. ;)
The promise of energy conservation (Score:2)
"Use less power so we'll reduce pollution. Use green sources like solar and wind."
"Thanks for the power, we'll piss it away on bitcoin mining and AI so we can lay you all off from your jobs."
What we need is... (Score:2)
a Monorail!
AI "Industry"??? (Score:1)
There's no AI industry. There are a bunch of grifters pretending their super-spell-checker is better than Google.
Fuck them all and give them NO government funds. Let China blow out its load on this boondoggle.
"AI industry". Sure, "they need [stuff]". Then buckle up, buttercup, and PAY FOR IT.
If your "industry" can't pay for it, it's a carnie ripoff. Go see 1600 Pennsylvania for more of that carnie shyte.
We've gone full dystopia. (Score:4, Insightful)
Fuck AI. Fuck Trump. Fuck everybody.
Re: (Score:3)
I used to love technology, but I'm totally with you now.
Re: (Score:2)
> Fuck AI. Fuck Trump. Fuck everybody.
So, "free love". Well that's one for the plus side with respect to our return to 1960s hippie ideology. ;-)