By George Moffatt • Education Chair, Jersey Shore Group
Gov. Phil Murphy and other state officials recently gathered to discuss how New Jersey could be a major player in the Wild West world of artificial intelligence (AI). Murphy announced a partnership with Microsoft and Princeton University to develop an AI hub of innovation in West Windsor.
An interesting bit of history is that AT&T’s Bell Labs researchers played key roles in AI’s development, from early machine learning to speech recognition to neural networks development. Bell Labs once a storied research organization for AT&T with operations in Murray Hill and Holmdel, New Jersey, is still heavily involved with AI and related technologies as Nokia Bell Labs.
AI systems today come in all sizes and needs. They do everything from creating cartoons and writing students’ term papers to providing information about anything we don’t understand today. And then some.
An AI system taps into massive amounts of existing data on any field of study. Then, enormous complexes of powerful computers analyze the data to, hopefully, provide the desired answers to better understand the “unknown.” These AI data manipulations occur in warehouse-sized buildings with huge appetites for power.
The massive amount of electricity that AI systems need can sometimes be met by upgrading the output of local electrical utilities that serve them. If so, state regulatory agencies must resolve the issue of who pays for any necessary utility grid upgrades—the AI customers or, as some rather dated utility regulations require, the utility’s entire customer base.
These electricity supply issues must be solved, or AI industries could easily overtax our country’s aged electrical power grids and drive up consumer costs.
Another important issue, perhaps the most important question, is how to meet AI’s growing electrical needs without increasing our already dangerous levels of air pollution. Most US electrical power comes from burning fossil fuels: gas, oil, or—gasp—coal.
Yes, due to AI’s ever-expanding need for electrical power, “King Coal” may be making a comeback, unfortunately.
At the end of 2023, there were still 227 coal plants operating in the United States, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The Trump administration aims to extend the life span of coal plants set for retirement and allow coal leasing on public lands to resume.
Most of the nation’s operating coal plants are located east of the Mississippi River, close to us.
The Sierra Club has made it clear that it opposes all forms of nuclear energy. Yet, nuclear power is clearly in the cards for AI developers. Microsoft plans to resuscitate the undamaged reactor at Three Mile Island in Middletown, Pa., the site of the worst nuclear accident on US soil, which took place in 1979.
AI’s explosive need for electricity does not bode well for controlling global warming. Earth in 2024 was about 2.65 °F warmer than the preindustrial average (1850-1900), according to NASA.
AI’s worldwide need for electricity is not good news for controlling air pollution. For example, for 22 million people in parts of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, ozone pollution levels rank 16th worst nationally, according to the American Lung Association.
We don’t need more air pollution or CO2 emissions.