As artificial intelligence continues to become more widely leveraged, lawmakers introduced a new bill Thursday that aims to better understand the environmental impacts of the technology’s development and use.
Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., along with Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., introduced the bicameral Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act of 2024 on Feb. 1.
The bill would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards to measure AI’s environmental impacts, as well as a voluntary framework for AI developers to report environmental impacts. It also calls for an interagency study to investigate both the positive and negative environmental impacts of AI.
“Understanding the environmental impacts of this quickly growing technology is critical so that we can begin to address those impacts,” Rep. Beyer said in a press release. “While recognizing the ways AI can help us decrease emissions in other sectors and develop innovative climate solutions, we need to ensure we are being responsible with the adverse impacts it may have on our environment now.”
The senators explained that AI can pose a variety of environmental concerns, such as the significant amount of energy it takes to develop and deploy AI systems. For example, they said increased AI use could double data center electricity demand by 2026 – leading to more carbon emissions.
The increased use of AI also means that there is a bigger demand for water to cool data centers. Additionally, the lawmakers said the chips needed for AI software are contributing to significant electronic waste.
“AI offers incredible possibilities for our country, but that comes with high environmental costs,” said Rep. Eshoo. “The resources necessary to research and develop AI are intensive, and as AI systems grow in scale and become more widely used across various sectors of society, it’s critical to understand the environmental impacts of AI development and use.”
“There is a Dickensian quality to the use of AI when it comes to our environment: It can make our planet better, and it can make our planet worse,” added Sen. Markey. “Our AI Environmental Impacts Act would set clear standards and voluntary reporting guidelines to measure AI’s impact on our environment. The development of the next generation of AI tools cannot come at the expense of the health of our planet.”
The legislation is endorsed by Hugging Face, Data and Society, Climate Change AI, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Greenpeace USA, Center for AI and Digital Policy, Friends of the Earth Action, Kairos Action, Eko, Accountable Tech, Encode Justice, Union of Concerned Scientists, Fidutam, Green Web Foundation, Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance, and Access Now.
