Recommendations of the Editorial team
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announce their support for two new AI bills that would impose a federal moratorium on data center construction. Sanders is introducing his bill, the AI Data Center Moratorium Act, on Wednesday.
“AI and robotics are unleashing the most profound technological revolution in human history. Congress is lagging far behind what it needs to know about the nature of this revolution and its consequences,” Sanders said in a statement to ROLLING STONE. “We cannot stand idly by as a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity. We need serious public debate and democratic oversight of this momentous issue.”
The legislation aims to slow the development of AI and allow Congress to catch up with appropriate regulation. Sanders is calling for an immediate federal moratorium on AI data centers until national protections are in place to ensure that AI is safe, effective, and does not threaten “health, privacy, civil rights, or the future of humanity.” The bill also calls for regulations to ensure that the economic gains from AI benefit workers – “not just the wealthy owners of Big Tech corporations” – as well as laws to protect the environment and prevent rising electricity prices for the population.
Sanders warns of AI risks
On Tuesday evening, Sanders spoke for half an hour on the Senate floor about the risks and impacts of AI and the oligarchs who control the tech companies. He also discussed the environmental consequences of AI and explained how AI requires huge data centers that consume enormous amounts of electricity and water.
“Meta, for example, is building a data center the size of Manhattan in Louisiana that will use as much electricity as 1.6 million homes,” Sanders said. He stood in front of a sign that said wholesale electricity prices near data centers have risen as much as 267 percent in the past five years. “This increasing demand will lead to a massive expansion of fossil fuels even as we are already experiencing the devastating consequences of the global climate crisis.”
As ROLLING STONE reported in November, an Amazon data center in Oregon worsened a water pollution problem in the state that has been linked to cancer and miscarriages. Nearly 3,000 data centers are under construction or planned in the United States, and another 4,000 are already in operation.
Ocasio-Cortez and the DEFIANCE Act
Sanders said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in December: “Frankly, I think we need to slow down this process.”
“If there are no more jobs and people are no longer needed for most things, how are people supposed to have an income to feed their families, get health care, or pay rent?” Sanders asked. “Not a single serious word has been said about this in Congress.”
Ocasio-Cortez has also spoken out clearly about the risks of AI and continues to advocate for the passage of her DEFIANCE Act, which gives those affected by AI-powered deepfake abuse a civil right to sue. Similar to the data center moratorium bill, the DEFIANCE Act was introduced as a bicameral bill in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It has passed the Senate but is still awaiting a vote in the House of Representatives.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez plan to speak together about the legislation on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. Sanders is taking the lead in introducing it in the Senate, and Ocasio-Cortez will accompany his Senate bill with a corresponding bill in the House of Representatives.
