WASHINGTON (7News) — How Artificial Intelligence is powered could have long-term effects. Now, the US Secretary of Energy is weighing in.
At the Special Competitive Studies Project’s recent AI+Energy summit in D.C., Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said it is possible for the US to provide the energy needed for AI.
“We basically have to double the size of our electric grid,” Granholm said.
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But Granholm warned AI companies that they must win over the public.
“If that extra power cost is put on everyday citizens, then there will be no desire to see these data centers permitted and placed in the United States,” she said.
For national security reasons, she said it’s important that AI is powered in the U.S.
“I hope you sense the incredible moment that we are in,” she said. “We are still in this phase of shaping the rules of growth, and we just want to make sure that we do it in a way that has our children and our grandchildren looking back on the other side of this transition and saying, ‘Yes, we made history and history for good.’”
She said tax incentives can help for companies promising to use clean energy. Plus, there may be extra incentives for companies operating at decommissioned nuclear plants, or even old coal mines. She said these facilities are already connected to the grid. Plus, building in towns where coal mines shut down could pump some added economic value into communities.