Put AI to Work Financing Electrical Grid Expansion

If AI Dominates Our Future, Let It Share Its Profits with the Public

The cost of electricity could double or treble in the next few years.

But don't blame this on solar and wind , now the cheapest sources of energy.

Much of the price increase will be caused by data centers for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Artificial intelligence is suddenly chewing up vast amounts of electricity.

Electric vehicles will also increase demand for electricity, but this increase will be gradual because adoption of EVs will also be gradual.

The increase in demand by AI, by contrast, will be much more abrupt.

Thanks to this sudden projected increase in the electricity we need, major price hikes are a distinct possibility.

For many decades, American demand for electricity increased gradually.

Efficiency gains (with LED lighting) largely offset population increase.

Electrical utilities were therefore taken by surprise by the sudden upswing in predicted demand due to AI.

The cost of electricity reflects the capital investments needed to produce and deliver it. Increased demand will require large investments, so the average cost of electricity will have to go up. But intelligent government policy could head off increases for the average family.

We merely need to make AI corporations pay significantly more per kilowatt-hour than households and non-AI businesses do.

Billions of dollars are being invested in AI because expected profits are immense.

If this expectation is correct, AI corporations can afford to pay a lot more for electricity.

The alternative, spreading the increased cost of electricity to the public, would force us all to subsidize the immense profits AI backers expect.

The New York Times recently noted, "New suppliers of electricity to the grid are often required to pay for upgrades if their addition might strain the network."

But it would make more sense instead to make AI organizations pay since they are placing additional demand for electricity on the grid's networks.

Electricity suppliers are helping meet that increased demand, and anything increasing their costs would ultimately have to be paid by the people using the electricity they produce.

Requiring AI operations to pay more for electricity could also be considered a fine for prolonging the use of coal and natural gas to generate electricity.

Burning fossil fuels increases atmospheric carbon dioxide, intensifying the global warming already increasing extreme weather and driving up insurance costs.

This also means that millions of Americans are bearing the costs AI causes to their environment, while investors in AI reap all the benefits.

If it weren't for the increased demand by AI, increased production of solar and wind energy would drive dangerous carbon fuels off the market faster.

The rapid increase in electricity demand forces producers to continue using carbon fuels despite the fact they are more expensive.

We probably can't stop AI from succeeding.

Should the U.S. attempt to do this, it would make us vulnerable to foreign nations where governments did no such thing. But the U.S. could certainly make AI pay its own way and compensate the interests it injures.

Wise public policy might therefore not only require AI to pay more for electricity, but also to pay something for the human labor it displaces.

Some years ago, before AI took off, Microsoft founder Bill Gates suggested taxing robots that replaced human workers.

AI is probably going to displace even more workers than robots have.

By analogy, it might also be only fair to require AI operations to pay the equivalent of payroll taxes (financing Medicare and Social Security) for a large number of workers, even if it actually employs only a few.

Such payments for workers displaced by AI could extend the period before the Social Security Trust Fund runs dry, postponing an increase in general payroll taxes or a major decrease in Social Security benefits.

If AI is going to dominate the future, let it share its profits with the public.

Paul F. deLespinasse is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Computer Science at Adrian College. Read Prof. Paul F. deLespinasse's Reports — More Here.