Tech, US officials to discuss AI development, White House says

By Timothy Gardner and Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top technology and power company executives will meet with senior U.S. officials at the White House on Thursday to discuss artificial intelligence's infrastructure needs, including data centers, power generation and semiconductors, a White House official said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google senior executive Ruth Porat and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are among the tech company representatives expected to attend, the official said. Executives from top power companies will also attend the meeting.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan as well as White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard will also take part, along with top Biden administration climate officials. CNN first reported the meeting.

"President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to deepening U.S. leadership in AI by ensuring data centers are built in the United States while ensuring the technology is developed responsibly," said White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will also meet with the executives.

Granholm told Reuters in June that President Joe Biden's administration was asking technology companies to invest in new climate-friendly power generation to cover their surging demand. The surge in demand from AI could complicate Biden's target of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035 to fight climate change.

The meeting shows that the White House recognizes the priority of infrastructure to create jobs and help guarantee that the benefits of AI are widely distributed, OpenAI said.

"OpenAI believes infrastructure is destiny and that building additional infrastructure in the U.S. is critical to the country's industrial policy and economic future," a company spokesperson said.

Generative AI, or GenAI, can create text, photos and videos in response to open-ended prompts. It has generated buzz about its potential uses such as relieving mundane tasks but also prompted fears about potential misuse.

The meeting will also focus on fostering public-private work in advancing AI and on workforce and permitting needs associated with the technology.

AI also strains the energy and metals industries as U.S. technology companies seek to secure a shrinking supply of electricity for their rapidly expanding data centers.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)