U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Sen. Maria Cantwell met in Seattle on Friday with West Coast tech executives and leaders from national laboratories to strategize partnerships to more quickly and effectively harness artificial intelligence in the pursuit of clean energy.
The conversation included brainstorming and horsetrading as participants highlighted what they offered to the situation.
Washington’s Sen. Cantwell described it as a “robust discussion” that tackled “what we could do to accelerate the partnership between the public and private sector on making sure our nation stays competitive and advanced on AI.”
Industry attendees included representatives from Microsoft; Amazon; semiconductor companies Intel and Micron; and Scale AI and SambaNova, which operate AI platforms. The meeting was held at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Seattle offices. Leaders from PNNL as well as Lawrence Livermore and Argonne national labs and other DOE officials participated.
The roundtable was closed to media, but event organizers shared Granholm and Cantwell’s introductory comments, and multiple attendees participated in a press event that followed their discussion.
Granholm called out three focus areas for the conversation:
Working together to build foundational models. These models are trained on massive datasets that form the basis of AI. “We’ve got the largest amount of classified and unclassified scientific data in the world inside of the Department of Energy,” Granholm said. “So resource wise, this is a great time to discuss a partnership.”
The hope is that new models could help researchers and industry quickly develop next generation materials and manufacturing. Just last month PNNL and Microsoft shared news that they had used AI and high-performance computing to rapidly identify a new material that could dramatically reduce the amount of lithium needed in batteries.
Partnering to reach the goal of training 500 new AI scientists by next year. Granholm asked participants for ideas on creating a training pilot program.
The energy benefits and challenges of increased AI use. While AI can play a key role in accelerating the clean energy transition, the computing required by AI uses a tremendous amount of power. Tech companies were called on to make their processes as energy efficient as possible. Participants noted that AI is already being used to speed up the permitting process for getting new clean energy projects on the grid.
Another key issue in the discussions was incorporating cybersecurity measures into AI research, and making sure it was addressed from the outset of projects and not retroactively.
Cantwell also asked participants for help with her pursuit of legislation known as the Guard Act, a measure that would give the U.S. the authority to stop dangerous foreign technologies from infiltrating the country.
Tech leaders shared strategies for making their AI systems more environmentally friendly.
- Jason Zander, Microsoft executive vice president of strategic mission and technologies, said the tech giant was working to find less toxic chemicals that can be used to cool its massive data centers.
- Scott DeBoer, executive vice president of technology and products at Micron, said the Boise, Id.-based company is using technology to sustainably model and test new materials that can be used in their manufacturing processes.
David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president for public policy and general counsel, attended the roundtable, but not the press conference.
The event Friday ticked multiple boxes from an AI-focused executive order issued by President Biden in October. The missive instructed government agencies to take steps around the secure and safe use of AI, and to ensure that the U.S. is a leader in the technology. The order included specific actions by the DOE that aligned with the Seattle meeting.
The work will be ongoing, and Granholm said the department will soon be issuing a public request for information addressing AI for good in the energy space.
