Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 20
ABC7 News: With just days left in his administration, President Joe Biden will sign a new executive order focused on bolstering the infrastructure needed to for advanced AI operations in the U.S., according to the White House.
“I am signing an historic Executive Order to accelerate the speed at which we build the next generation of AI infrastructure here in America, in a way that enhances economic competitiveness, national security, AI safety, and clean energy,” Biden said in a Tuesday statement on the announcement.
The order will direct the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to lease federal sites where the private sector can build AI infrastructure “at speed and scale,” he said.
Tarun Chabra, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for technology and national security, said on a call previewing the order that it’s “really critical” for national security to establish a path for building the data centers and power infrastructure in the U.S.
Biden underscored the importance of AI in his remarks at the State Department on Monday. Officials on a call with reporters noted current strains on the AI market to make investments needed for large-scale operations saying their cost, power constraints and permitting challenges resulting in long lead times to bring data centers to market.
Specifically, the order will direct the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to identify at least three federal sites each they own for these types of developments and allow private sector companies to bid competitively on leases to build on the sites.
