The United States is facing a major energy shortage due to the insatiable demand for AI

To this day, the wild growth of artificial intelligence institutions has proven itself uncontrollable. While this technology has taken the high-tech sector by storm, regulators have hardly been able to get ahead of its spread and evolution. There are many questions about the scope and responsibilities of artificial intelligence, but there are few answers. There is also the issue of the sector's huge and growing energy emissions and associated carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, these emissions have become extremely large, and developed countries are facing major energy shortages that were not seen before the shale revolution.

“Since services utilizing AI require significantly more computer power, or electricity, than standard online activities, we are urging a series of warnings about the impact of this technology on the environment,” the BBC recently reported. According to recent research by Cornell University scientists, generative AI systems such as ChatGPT consume up to 33 times more energy than computers running task-specific software, and internet searches using AI consume about 10 times more energy than standard searches.

The global AI sectorby 20303.5% of global electricity consumptionOccupiesIt is expected. In the US,Data centers alone will consume 9% of electricity by 2030Also, there is a possibility that it will double what it is now. Earlier this month, Google revealed that its carbon dioxide emissions had surged 48% over the past five years.

Not only does the US need far more renewable energy to keep up with the insatiable demand from the high-tech industry, it also needs more energy production to avoid serious energy shortages. In order to slow the runaway energy consumption of AI, broad and quick measures are necessary in several aspects, but it is also necessary for the United States not to lag behind other countries' AI spending and development due to its own national security concerns. The spirit has gone out of the bottle, but there's no going back.

“The US government's strategic fields with artificial intelligence capabilities are currently lagging behind industry, while foreign adversaries are investing heavily in AI. “If U.S. government leadership is not rapidly established in this area, there is a risk that it will lag behind in developing safe and reliable AI for national security, energy, and scientific discovery, and its ability to address urgent national and global challenges will be impaired.”

In other words, what is being asked now is not how to retreat from global AI acquisitions, but how to quickly secure new energy sources, how to set strategic limits on growth and intense consumption rates in this field, and how to ensure that AI is responsibly adopted for the benefit of the energy sector, nations, citizens, and the world as a whole.

To this end, the US Department of Energy (DoE) is proposing a new agency-wide initiative to “utilize and develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of the people,” according to Axios reports. This month, the DoE announced a roadmap for this program. The Frontier of Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security, and Technology (FASST) includes coordinated collaboration from all of the DoE's 17 national laboratories.

This program focuses on maintaining global competitiveness in the AI field, but also invests significant resources into creating more energy efficient computer models so as not to damage national energy security and climate goals in the process.

The five overarching objectives of this program are:

1. Promoting national security

2. Securing and developing excellent human resources

3. Leveraging AI for scientific discoveries

4. Addressing energy issues

5. Development of technical expertise necessary for AI governance

Under the aim of “addressing energy issues,” the Department of Energy said, “FASST will unlock new clean energy sources, optimize energy production, improve transmission grid resilience, and build tomorrow's advanced energy economy. America needs low-cost energy to support economic growth, and FASST will help solve this problem.”

The proposed FASST program would be an important first step in the right direction for the responsible growth and application of artificial intelligence in the US, but it still requires congressional approval and funding to implement it. A bipartisan bill has already been submitted in the Senate.