[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3732 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3732
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to
carry out a study on the environmental impacts of artificial
intelligence, to require the Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology to convene a consortium on such environmental
impacts, and to require the Director to develop a voluntary reporting
system for the reporting of the environmental impacts of artificial
intelligence, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 1, 2024
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Welch, Mr.
Padilla, and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to
carry out a study on the environmental impacts of artificial
intelligence, to require the Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology to convene a consortium on such environmental
impacts, and to require the Director to develop a voluntary reporting
system for the reporting of the environmental impacts of artificial
intelligence, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Artificial Intelligence
Environmental Impacts Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Multiple estimates indicate that the amount of
computational power being used for artificial intelligence
applications has increased rapidly over the last decade. A 2022
estimate suggested that the number of computational operations
being used to create each of the largest artificial
intelligence models is currently doubling every 10 months.
(2) Accelerating use of artificial intelligence has the
potential to greatly increase energy consumption due to the
power utilization of computer hardware required for training
and operating artificial intelligence models, despite ongoing
efficiency gains in both artificial intelligence models and
hardware.
(3) Rapid growth in data center infrastructure, including
cooling systems and backup power equipment, supporting
artificial intelligence and other computing-intensive
technologies contributes to pollution, water consumption, and
land-use changes.
(4) Resource and energy-intensive manufacturing processes
are required for the hardware that runs artificial intelligence
and other computing-intensive technologies, leading to
significant environmental impacts.
(5) Yearly increases in electronic waste (known as ``e-
waste'') pose increasing environmental and health risks, and
will likely be exacerbated by outdated and discarded hardware
used for artificial intelligence and other computing-intensive
technologies.
(6) Many applications of artificial intelligence can have
direct and indirect positive environmental impacts. Positive
environmental impacts may include optimizing systems for energy
efficiency, developing renewable energy, advancing planetary
systems research, enabling discovery of new materials, and
automatically monitoring environmental changes. However,
artificial intelligence applications may also have direct and
indirect negative environmental impacts, including rebound
effects, behavioral impacts, and accelerating high-pollution
activities.
(7) Estimates of the current and future environmental
impacts of artificial intelligence are currently uncertain.
(8) Negative environmental effects may have a disparate
impact across different regions and communities.
(9) Various options exist to reduce the negative
environmental impacts of artificial intelligence, including
using more efficient models, hardware, and data centers, using
renewable energy, and examining the impacts of artificial
intelligence applications.
(10) Promoting transparency and environmental protection
measures may help mitigate negative environmental impacts of
the rapid growth in artificial intelligence use, while
promoting artificial intelligence uses with net positive
environmental impacts.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial
intelligence'' has the meaning given such term in section 5002
of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020
(15 U.S.C. 9401).
(2) Artificial intelligence model.--The term ``artificial
intelligence model'' means a component of an information system
that implements artificial intelligence technology and uses
computational, statistical, or machine-learning techniques to
produce outputs from a given set of inputs.
(3) Artificial intelligence system.--The term ``artificial
intelligence system'' means any data system, software,
hardware, application, tool, or utility that operates in whole
or in part using artificial intelligence.
(4) Voluntary reporting entity.--The term ``voluntary
reporting entity'' means any company, organization, or other
entity that--
(A) develops or operates an artificial intelligence
system; and
(B) chooses to participate in the reporting system
developed under section 6.
SEC. 4. STUDY ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,
in collaboration with the Secretary of Energy, the Director of the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall carry out, and submit to
Congress and make publicly available a report describing the results
of, a comprehensive study on the environmental impacts of artificial
intelligence.
(b) Requirements.--The study required under subsection (a) shall
include an examination of--
(1) the energy consumption and pollution associated with
the full lifecycle of artificial intelligence models, including
the design, development, deployment, and use of those
artificial intelligence models;
(2) the energy consumption and pollution associated with
the full lifecycle of artificial intelligence hardware,
including the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, and
electronic waste associated with that hardware;
(3) the energy and water consumption for the cooling of the
data centers used in the design, development, deployment, and
use of artificial intelligence models;
(4) how choices made during the design, development,
deployment, and use of artificial intelligence models,
including the efficiency of the artificial intelligence models
used, the location, power source, and design of data centers
used, and the type of hardware used, impact the resulting
environmental impacts;
(5) potential environmental impacts that could be acute at
local scales, which may include added power loads that create
grid stress, water withdrawals that create water stress, or
local noise impacts;
(6) the positive environmental impacts associated with
applications of artificial intelligence, which may include
optimizing systems for energy efficiency, developing renewable
energy, advancing planetary systems research, enabling
discovery of new materials, and automatically monitoring
environmental changes;
(7) the negative environmental impacts associated with
applications of artificial intelligence, which may include
rebound effects, behavioral impacts, and accelerating high-
pollution activities;
(8) disparate impacts in the negative environmental impacts
of artificial intelligence;
(9) other environmental impacts, as determined by the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and
(10) the results of the updated data center study carried
out under section 453(e)(2) of the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17112(e)(2)).
(c) Public Comment Required.--In conducting the study required
under subsection (a), the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency shall solicit and consider public comments.
SEC. 5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS CONSORTIUM.
(a) In General.--The Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology shall, in consultation with the Administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Energy, and
such others as the Director considers appropriate, convene a consortium
of stakeholders, including members from academia, civil society, and
industry, to identify the future measurements, methodologies,
standards, and other appropriate needs, in order to measure and report
the full range of environmental impacts of artificial intelligence.
(b) Location.--The Director may determine the location of the
consortium within the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
(c) Goals.--The goals of the consortium shall include the
following:
(1) Facilitating consistent, comparable reporting on the
environmental impacts of the full lifecycle of artificial
intelligence models, systems, and hardware.
(2) According to technical feasibility, the development or
cataloging of open source software and hardware tools and other
resources designed to facilitate the measurement of
environmental impacts of artificial intelligence models,
systems, and hardware.
(3) Providing recommendations on how to mitigate the
negative, and promote the positive, environmental impacts of
artificial intelligence.
SEC. 6. REPORTING SYSTEM FOR VOLUNTARY REPORTING OF ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(a) Voluntary Reporting System.--The Director of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology shall, in consultation with the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of
Energy, the consortium convened under section 5, and such others as the
Director considers appropriate, develop a system for voluntary
reporting by voluntary reporting entities of the full range of
environmental impacts of artificial intelligence.
(b) Guidelines.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall develop guidelines for
voluntary reporting entities on how to participate in the
voluntary reporting system developed under subsection (a). Such
guidelines may include guidelines on how to calculate and
report energy consumption, water consumption, pollution, and
electronic-waste associated with the full lifecycle of
artificial intelligence models and hardware, as well as other
positive and negative impacts of artificial intelligence use,
as determined by the Director.
(2) Public comments.--Before finalizing the guidelines
under paragraph (1), the Director shall solicit comments from
the public on a draft version of the guidelines.
(c) Availability.--The Director shall, to the maximum extent
practicable and with consideration to privileged business information,
make submissions to the voluntary reporting system under subsection (a)
available on a public website.
SEC. 7. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
Not later than 4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary
of Energy, and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology shall jointly submit to Congress a report detailing the
following:
(1) The main findings of the consortium convened under
section 5.
(2) A description of the reporting system created under
section 6.
(3) Recommendations for legislative or administrative
action to mitigate the negative and promote the positive
environmental impacts of artificial intelligence.
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