The surge of new data center initiatives across the U.S. has sparked increasing opposition against the infrastructure supporting AI. Two prominent legislators are now advocating for a prohibition on all new data centers exceeding a peak power load of 20 megawatts.

Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York are unveiling joint legislation in their respective legislative bodies today that would pause these projects until Congress implements thorough AI regulations.

Sanders’ office highlights statements from various technology leaders who have expressed their anxieties regarding AI and called for tighter controls or suspensions on its advancement. These figures include Elon Musk (who has remarked, “AI is far more dangerous than nukes. So why do we have no regulatory oversight?”), Google DeepMind leader Demis Hassabis, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton.

A March Pew Research survey revealed that a majority of Americans feel more apprehensive than thrilled about AI, with only 10% of respondents indicating their excitement surpasses their worries. Nonetheless, substantial political contributions from AI firms and concerns over falling behind in an AI arms race with China may complicate the passage of such legislation.

This proposed legislation could be viewed as an initial proposal for how AI regulation might be structured. The two legislators aim for the U.S. government to assess and approve AI models before their deployment, establish safeguards against job loss due to AI, curtail the ecological impact of data infrastructures, and mandate union labor for their construction. They also aim to ban the export of advanced chips to nations lacking comparable regulations — which currently includes most countries.