By Mark MoranThe Trump administration’s long-term plan for artificial intelligence could have far-reaching environmental impacts across the country, including in Arizona, where AI companies are building energy-hungry data centers.
The plan calls for the removal of environmental and land-use rules considered prohibitive to the construction of AI data centers. Meta is building a massive data center in a rural part of suburban Phoenix.
Ben Murray, senior researcher for the advocacy group Food and Water Watch, said fossil fuel plants are already being reopened to help meet high energy demands.
"We just need to be aware that anything that prolongs our reliance on fossil fuel is going to increase the problems that we’re seeing from the climate crisis," Murray explained.Murray argued high-tech progress should not come at the expense of increased household energy prices.
The Trump administration said environmental and permitting regulations will only slow America’s dominance in the AI field.
Computer servers using AI require far more energy than those that don't. A ChatGPT query, for example, can use up to 10 times more electricity than a standard Google search. Murray pointed out the push for more data centers is already leading Big Tech companies to backtrack on their climate goals.
"These companies can seem as if they’re decreasing their emissions and meeting net-zero goals but in reality, the emissions are amping up faster than ever for these companies," Murray noted.
A report last year found emissions from data centers owned by Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft were more than seven times higher than officially reported. Murray added it is possible to power AI services with renewable energy sources but doing so requires political will.
