Exclusive: Sen. Warner calls AI data center moratorium championed by AOC "idiocy"
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Sen. Mark Warner at Axios' AI+DC Summit.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on Wednesday at Axios' AI+DC Summit that placing a moratorium on the construction of AI data centers would be "idiocy," adding that it would grant China an edge in the race to dominate artificial intelligence.
Why it matters: Warner's comments come the same day that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) unveiled legislation to pause all new data center construction nationwide until AI safeguards are in place.
- "That would be idiocy," Warner said when asked about the idea of a moratorium to ease the transition to AI.
- "A data center moratorium simply means China is going to move quicker," he added.
Driving the news: Sanders and AOC are staking out one of the most aggressive AI policy positions yet this Congress, colliding with the industry's rapid expansion.
- Their bill would impose a national moratorium on new AI data center construction until "strong national safeguards" are in place, per a press release.
- "The idea that we're going to stuff this back into the bottle, this genie, that's a ridiculous premise," Warner said.
Warner also said it was unreasonable for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to have full discretion to designate Anthropic, or another AI company, a supply chain risk.
- "Are we really going to empower one guy, in this case Pete Hegseth, to determine total national policy on whether AI tools are used for total surveillance of the American population or creating an AI offensive weapon without a human in the loop?"
- "Those should be policy decisions, not left to a single individual," he added.
- "You talk about governmental policy interfering in the market — you give one guy the ability to declare any company, American company, a global supply chain risk — that is the equivalent of a death sentence," Warner told Axios' Maria Curi.
Zoom out: Anthropic is asking courts to undo the supply chain risk designation, block its enforcement, and require federal agencies to withdraw directives to drop the company.
- A federal judge on Tuesday called the Pentagon's treatment of Anthropic "troubling" as the AI company urged the court to pause the Trump administration's designation of the company as a supply chain risk.
- The Trump administration is looking to remove Claude from federal agencies and prevent companies that do business with the Pentagon from working with the AI lab.
- Agencies have started to take action, and Anthropic says some companies are rethinking contracts.
