U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday, six days before leaving office, aimed at strengthening the United States' artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and “accelerating the clean energy transition.” [emphasis, links added]
The executive order directs the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Departments of Energy (DOE) to lease federal property to the private sector to build “gigawatt-scale” artificial intelligence data centers, while requiring the Department of the Interior to “determine lands under its management” that are suitable for clean energy .
The move is the latest in a series of last-minute developments on the president's green energy agenda, including a newly announced crackdown on future offshore oil and gas drilling.
“This executive order will direct the Departments of Defense and Energy Leasing federal sites where the private sector can build cutting-edge artificial intelligence infrastructure at speed and scale,“An official statement from the White House read.
“These efforts are designed to accelerate the clean energy transition in a way that is responsible and respectful to local communities and does not impose any new costs on American families.”
The order defines “clean energy generation resources” as geothermal, nuclear fission and fusion, solar, wind, hydroelectric, hydropower and ocean energy, or any energy source that produces “little or no carbon dioxide emissions.”
The energy consumed when training large language models (LLMs) has long been a concern for climate activists, who point out AI and cryptocurrency data centers will account for nearly 2% of global energy consumption in 2022, a number that could double by 2026According to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The White House also called the development of U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure a “national security imperative” in a statement, emphasizing the need to prevent adversaries from exploiting “powerful systems.” …shear…
Biden also announced new restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors on Monday, aimed at preventing countries like China from training advanced LL.M.
The executive order is another last-minute move that appears to be an effort to thwart President-elect Trump’s energy agendais expected to include a massive expansion of oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters.
Read Daily Caller’s full post
