Updates

EPIC Joins Coalition Calling for More Federal Scrutiny Over AI’s Climate and Resource Impacts

October 31, 2024

On Oct. 31, EPIC joined a coalition of civil society organizations in environmental justice, civil rights, and digital rights led by Athena in submitting a comment calling on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to pay attention to the climate impact of large data centers used by Big Tech in expanding their AI development. The group explained that the new developments of energy-hungry data centers threaten to reverse hard-won climate progress at a time when we can no longer afford delays. 

EPIC has frequently published about the real-world harms of AI, from discrimination to privacy violations to threats to democracy. AI’s impact on climate change is another serious category of harm that must be considered in conversations around AI technologies’ benefits and harms.

The computational power and data center capacity required for AI development requires huge amounts of energy and water and comes with other considerations such the carbon footprint, expensive nuclear energy development, and straining the existing power grid. Local communities of massive data centers have also experienced adverse health impacts and were met with little transparency. Meanwhile, state, local, and federal governments are courting Big Tech to expand their AI development through tax incentives that hurts the tax base, taking away from funds for other needs of the community. The coalition comment stresses that the federal agencies must consider such environmental and human impact of AI when considering the development of new data centers and energy infrastructure. 

The coalition comment urges the NTIA and DOE to: 

  1. Prioritize affordable, renewable energy for the public above the needs of technology corporations and ensure data centers are not extending the life of coal and fracked gas, nor driving the build-out of new fossil fuel infrastructure, directly or indirectly
  2. Ensure economic and energy policies related to data centers address corporate concentration, monopolization, and unfair competition in the energy, utility, and tech sectors
  3. Guarantee that the public and utility ratepayers are not made to subsidize the ambitions of the wealthiest corporations in the world
  4. Bring much-needed transparency into both the data center and utility sectors, so that the public, regulators, and lawmakers can make informed decisions that protect people and the planet
  5. Work with Congress to pass strong privacy, data minimization, algorithmic accountability, and antitrust laws that address current abuses of power and prioritize the autonomy and rights of people
  6. Prioritize a just transition to renewable energy that creates large numbers of high-quality and union jobs, rather than giving subsidies to low-employment industries like the data center industry

EPIC has done deep research on harms of Generative AI, including environmental impacts. EPIC also regularly comments on regulations of AI to promote stronger AI governance frameworks to mitigate the harms of AI.

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