US senator Ed Markey is worried about the perils of unregulated artificial intelligence.
What part? All of it: the costs associated with thirsty, energy-guzzling datacenters, intrusive workplace surveillance, bias in discriminatory algorithms, AI overriding workers’ judgments, and deepening economic inequality – as those who profit most from AI rake in extraordinary windfalls.
The Massachusetts Democrat’s interest in convincing Congress to rein in the harmful effects of AI has only grown, as the technology embeds itself deeper across industries. Markey has already authored close to a dozen bills aimed at tackling these problems.
In the coming weeks, the 79-year-old senator, plans to introduce his latest bill, focused on federal certification requirements for datacenters powering the AI boom – as anger mounts about their negative effects on the environment and energy bills.
“We need to make sure these datacenters don’t turn into pollution bombs,” Markey said.
On Friday, Markey unveiled this package of bills as part of a new “AI accountability agenda” focused on “taking power back from big tech”.
“Every American is entitled to these safeguards … it shouldn’t be limited just by geographic boundaries of the individual states,” said Markey, who is running for his third full term in the Senate.
He stressed that a piecemeal approach to AI “would leave too many people exposed” and that the government has to act on regulation quickly, though there has been little federal movement on the subject since ChatGPT’s release in 2022.
Markey’s preliminary version of the bill, shared with the Guardian, would require companies that own or propose datacenters to obtain certification from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) affirming that the facilities “will not harm the public interest” even before construction begins.
The proposal states that the commission would evaluate proposed data centers’ potential effects on air and water quality, noise levels, energy costs and electricity system reliability, the local ecosystem and wildlife, the local economy and jobs. The agency should consult with federal, state and local agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and zoning boards, the discussion draft states.
The broad agenda highlights specific people hit hardest by the issues his bills seek to address. That includes grieving parents who say their 14-year-old son died by suicide after being sexually groomed by a chatbot, a resident of a rural Georgia town who can’t drink her tap water at home after datacenter construction began nearby, a woman who sued over an allegedly discriminatory algorithm that denied her housing and a veteran nurse who felt morally distressed about following an AI model’s instincts over her own.
Markey’s other AI legislation includes bills that would ban employers from primarily relying on automated systems for hiring, firing and promotion decisions; require stronger…
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