Top AI leaders meet with White House officials

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter

{beacon}

The Big Story 

Senior Biden administration officials met with key leaders in the artificial intelligence (AI) space Thursday to discuss the development of data centers for the power-hungry technology.

© AP Photo/Eric Risberg

In attendance on the industry side were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith and Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang, according to a readout from the White House.

 

Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat, Meta Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman also participated in the meeting.

 

They were joined on the govenrment side by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, as well as several senior White House officials, including White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, national economic adviser Lael Brainard and national security adviser Jake Sullivan

 

The White House convened the meeting to discuss the clean energy, permitting and work force needs for developing the large-scale data centers and power infrastructure required for AI.

 

Following the roundtable, the administration announced several new initiatives focused on building out data center capacity, including a Task Force on AI Datacenter Infrastructure and efforts to scale up technical assistance for data center permitting.

 

“These actions will enable datacenters catalyzing the industries of the future to be built here in the United States by American workers,” the White House said in its readout.

 

Google’s Porat described Thursday’s meeting as an “important opportunity to advance the work required to modernize and expand the capacity of America’s energy grid.”

 

An AWS spokesperson similarly said in a statement that it “appreciated the opportunity” to “discuss efforts to ensure AI development in the US and the needs to modernize the nation’s utility grid, expedite permitting for new projects, and ensure timely grid connections for carbon-free energy projects.”

 

AI requires significant amounts of energy. A single request to OpenAI’s ChatGPT uses nearly 10 times as much energy as a typical Google search, according to the International Energy Agency.

 

And image generation requires more than 60 times the energy of text generation, a study by Carnegie Mellon University and AI startup Hugging Face found.

 

AI’s increased energy demands have thrown a wrench in major tech companies’ efforts to rein in their emissions. Google’s emissions have risen 48 percent since 2019, while Microsoft’s emissions have grown 29 percent since 2020. Both have pointed to AI.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, I’m Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

 

Programming note: The Hill’s Technology newsletter will be off Monday, Sept. 16 through Thursday, Sept. 19. We’ll be back in your inbox with Tech Friday on Friday, Sept. 20.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Essential Reads 

How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Utah from enforcing an ambitious new law that would have required social media companies to verify people’s ages, apply privacy settings and impose certain restrictions on minors. U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby issued the preliminary injunction against the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act, which was set to take effect Oct. 1. The judge said the defendant, NetChoice, is “substantially …

I'm an image

Apple’s new Airpod Pros will double as an over-the-counter hearing aid. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Thursday the hearing aid feature, which is a software-only mobile medical application. “Today’s marketing authorization of an over-the-counter hearing aid software on a widely used consumer audio product is another step that advances the availability, accessibility and acceptability of hearing support for …

I'm an image

Parents whose children have died or been seriously harmed as a result of social media are pushing for the House to mark up and vote on stalled legislation intended to increase kids’ safety and privacy online as momentum stalls in the lower chamber.  The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) passed the Senate in a 91-3 vote in late July as part of a package that also included the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Action Act, …

I'm an image

Most Americans say they don’t trust artificial intelligence-powered chatbots to produce accurate information about the 2024 election, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts. In the poll, released Tuesday, 64 percent of respondents say they are either not very confident (38 percent) or not at all confident (26 percent) that “information from artificial intelligence, …

I'm an image

The Refresh 

News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:

Australia considers fines for misinformation

The Australian government plans to introduce legislation that would fine internet platforms up to 5 percent of their global revenue for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation, Reuters reported.

Microsoft cuts 650 jobs in gaming division

Microsoft is laying off another 650 workers from its gaming division, just eight months after cutting 1,900 roles on the team, TechCrunch reported.

On Our Radar 

Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:

  • Oprah Winfrey will host a one-hour special on ABC titled “AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special,” featuring conversations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft co-counder Bill Gates and FBI Director Christopher Wray, on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

What Others are Reading 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

I'm an image

A Georgia judge has again dropped multiple charges in former President Trump’s 2020 election interference case on Thursday, two of which Trump himself … Read more

I'm an image

Two top allies of former President Trump are warring on social media about a bigoted social media post mocking Vice President Harris’s Indian … Read more

What Others are Reading 

Opinions related to tech submitted to The Hill:

You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow! 

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.