Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Want to Halt Data Center Production

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want Congress to take immediate action to stop the spread of data centers key to artificial intelligence, which Sanders called “literally an existential threat to the existence of the human race.”

The progressive lawmakers announced a new bill on Wednesday that would ban new construction of these centers until the passage of federal legislation that places restrictions on AI.

Sanders said he doesn’t think Democratic leaders are moving on the matter as quickly as they should be.

“I don’t think the Democratic Party leadership is taking this issue anywhere near as seriously as it should,” Sanders said at a press conference. “We need to develop a sense of urgency here. The economic impacts are going to be enormous. Impacts on our children will be enormous.”

The bill from Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez would require Congress to pass other legislation before new construction on data centers can begin, including protections for workers, consumers and communities, as well as privacy measures and environmental standards. The new bill would also impose a ban on exporting AI chips to other countries until said protections are put in place.

“A moratorium will give us time — time to understand the risks, time to protect working families, time to defend our democracy and time to ensure that this technology works for all of us, not just the few,” Sanders said.

The idea of a data center moratorium is divisive even among Democrats, and will be a near-impossible sell in Congress. Critics of data center moratoriums from both parties have said the measure would disarm the U.S. in what many consider to be an existential race against China to develop and adopt advanced AI.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said at an Axios event Wednesday that a data center moratorium “would be idiocy.”

“A data center moratorium simply means China is going to move quicker,” Warner said.

Large tech firms have significant sway with both parties. Sanders said lawmakers’ failure to act on AI was a result of the industry’s spending.

“Why is Congress not moving aggressively? Well, maybe it has something to do with $150 million and more that is coming into Congress in campaign contributions and in super PACs, when you have a class of people who are multibillionaires spending a few $100 million dollars on elections,” Sanders said.

Ocasio-Cortez said the effects of AI data centers can already be seen, pointing to the increased cost of utility bills in communities where data centers are booming.

She said the risks to privacy from AI also demand urgent action.

“When you take the subway, when you share a TikTok, when you talk to your Alexa at home — they are collecting your data and figuring out new ways to weaponize it, and now they are using AI tools to automate this so that it is not only pervasive, but that it is effortless,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the press conference. “We must sound the alarm now.”

Sanders has placed a heavy emphasis in recent months on AI and its impact on communities, the environment and the economy. In October, Sanders’ office released a report which found that AI could replace up to 97 million jobs in 10 years and that AI companies have admitted they aim to lower labor costs by using AI to cut human jobs.

Last month, Sanders traveled to California to talk to tech leaders about how AI advancements could harm workers and the economy.