People are generating wealth, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants to put a stop to it. First on social media and now on Sunday TV shows, Sanders has called for a “moratorium” on all data center construction until “democracy” can “catch up” with technological change. Like so many of his proposals, this one would inflict real economic damage while undermining U.S. national security.
Sanders’s first concern about the trillions of dollars being invested in computing infrastructure is, of course, that some people are getting rich doing it.
“Who is pushing this revolution in technology?” Sanders asked rhetorically. “It is the richest people in the world … They are doing it to get richer and even more powerful. That’s issue number one.”
Bernie is right that rich people are investing in infrastructure so they can become richer and more powerful. That is what entrepreneurs do in a free society. It is also how the United States became the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth. All of our past wealth, from railroads to factories to computers, came from people putting their resources to use in a way that benefited others and, in the process, enriching themselves. If our top priority were to prevent rich people from getting richer, every American would be much poorer today.
Sanders also warned that artificial intelligence will destroy jobs, an argument as old as the Luddites smashing looms centuries ago. Every major technological advance, from mechanization to computers, sparked the same fear. Technology reshapes work, and some jobs will go. There are fewer blacksmiths or manure collectors today, thanks to the automobile. But technology also raises productivity and creates more jobs over time that are better paid because they are more productive. If we stop investing in infrastructure for new technology today, we will be choosing decline tomorrow.
Sanders also raised an existential concern that “AI is soon going to be smarter than human beings.” Whether or not that is true, it is fair to acknowledge that AI’s capabilities are growing, and we do not know the full extent of how it can be used. But its potential is not a reason to start a moratorium, especially as we know China is not slowing its pursuit of the technology.
No serious analyst believes China is debating whether to pause AI infrastructure out of concern for local zoning disputes or electricity prices. Beijing has made AI dominance a national objective and has explicitly integrated civilian AI development with its military and intelligence arms. Chinese firms have unlimited support from the state to pursue total AI supremacy. Any American slowdown would not be reciprocated and would be costly.
The uncomfortable truth is that AI governance will not be set by the country that moves slowest, but by the country that leads. Safety standards, norms, and international rules tend to follow power, not precede it. If the U.S. relinquished leadership in AI, it would also relinquish leverage over how AI is used globally.
A DANGEROUS SUPREME COURT DECISION
Human progress is inseparable from energy abundance. Every leap in living standards, from agriculture to steam power to electricity, came not from using less energy, but from learning how to produce more of it reliably and cheaply. Societies that have embraced energy abundance have become wealthier, wiser, and more productive. Societies that have delayed stagnate. AI is simply the latest expression of this pattern.
An AI race is underway, whether Sanders wants it or not. A data center moratorium would not protect Americans. It would ensure that someone else wins. Once that happens, there will be no pause button to press.
