WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Askume) – The White House announced the creation of a new working group to address the growing need for artificial intelligence infrastructure after senior U.S. officials met with technology and energy company executives on Thursday.
The White House said the working group, led by the National Economic Council, the National Security Council and other agencies, will coordinate policies and promote data center development while taking into account economic, national security and environmental goals.
The meeting was attended by representatives of technology companies, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google (GOOGL.O) senior CEO Ruth Porat and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
The White House said participants discussed how to meet clean energy, licensing and labor needs to develop the data centers and power infrastructure needed to operate advanced artificial intelligence.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can generate text, photos and videos based on open-ended prompts. This has sparked discussion about its potential uses, such as making everyday tasks easier, but has also raised concerns about its potential misuse.
Artificial intelligence could put pressure on the energy industry just like US tech companieswants to secure dwindling power supplies for its rapidly growing data center .
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also attended.
Granholm told Askume in June that President Joe Biden ‘s administration is asking technology companies to invest in new climate-friendly power generation to meet growing demand. The surge in demand for artificial intelligence could complicate Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the power industry by 2035 to combat climate change.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to strengthening American leadership in artificial intelligence by ensuring data centers are built in the United States, while also ensuring the technology is developed responsibly,” White House spokeswoman Robin Patterson said.
Also in attendance were the Biden administration’s top climate officials, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard.
OpenAI said the meeting showed that the White House recognizes the priority of infrastructure to create jobs and help widely distribute the benefits of artificial intelligence.
A company spokesperson said, “OpenAI believes that infrastructure is destiny and that building more infrastructure in the United States is vital to the country’s industrial policy and economic future.”
