Washington, D.C. – Today the White House released a “national legislative framework” for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the country. The plan purports to address six key objectives, including “safeguarding and strengthening American communities.”

In response, Food & Water Watch’s policy director, Jim Walsh, made the following statement:

“This latest AI proclamation from the White House is more of the same nonsense we’ve been hearing for months – primarily a call for more and more fossil fuel production to support a Big Tech industry that Americans are growing increasingly wary of by the day. Whether they are connected to the power grid or not, more data centers mean more climate-killing fracked gas power plants poisoning our air and water, and more stress placed on local communities’ precious water resources.

“The only prudent course of action when it comes to AI is to halt the explosive growth of new data center construction now, so that states and communities have the time needed to properly consider their own futures. It has yet to be determined if – not how – this industry can ever operate in a manner that sufficiently protects people and society from the profusion of inherent harms and hazards that data centers bring wherever they appear.”

Last October, Food & Water Watch became the first national organization in the country to call for a full nationwide moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. In a letter to Congress in December, more than 230 national, state and local organizations from across the country echoed this call, citing massive and unsustainable consumption by data centers of energy and water resources, and skyrocking utility costs for families and small businesses.

Recently about a dozen states have seen legislation introduced that would enact some type of pause on data construction entirely.