An official with the Department of Energy has said the US needs “more Christianity” to better prepare its workforce.
Tommy Joyce, the US Department of Energy's acting assistant secretary for the Office of International Affairs, was speaking during a panel discussion on Tuesday at the United States Energy Association (USEA) forum, where officials, energy analysts and technology experts discussed the Pax Silica AI consortium.
Mr Joyce said that although the US seemed to be “doing a good job right now”, and that schools were starting to team up with various initiatives to place more emphasis on fostering future engineering, nuclear and artificial intelligence talent, a “larger question” needs to be addressed.
“I hate to say it, but I think a lot of people need more Christianity,” he added.
“I mean, we need to focus on how are we going to continue growing and focus on the right things and not just being materialistic.”
The Department of Energy has not yet responded to The National's requests for comment on Mr Joyce's remarks.
His comments come as debate continues over the absence of guardrails, moral or otherwise, in AI development. Some argue that ethical AI - designing the technology with a focus on fairness, transparency and accountability - is essential to the development of something that will continue to have a profound influence on humanity.
AI critics from Christian and other faith backgrounds have called for developers to ensure the technology be given a moral foundation, rooted in the protection of humanity and the promotion of social justice.
Mr Joyce also highlighted how low birthrates across the globe could pose innovation opportunities as well as challenges. He said that as the number of humans drops, while there will be opportunities to use AI innovation to overcome this, "in the end, it’s going to be fuelless".
"Part of our AI action plan is, humans in the loop always," he said. "You got to keep humans in the loop."
Defending data centres
Mr Joyce also spoke about the rising resentment towards data centres, whose construction has increased significantly due to the unprecedented interest and investment in AI.
He lauded President Donald Trump's ratepayer protection pledge, announced in February, that seeks to pressure data centre and Big Tech companies to provide for their own electricity needs rather than taking from the existing energy grid.
The rise in US electricity prices have in part caused consumers give considerably more scrutiny to data centres, which tend to place more of a burden on energy grids. Other concerns include potential labour problems and water shortages.
But Mr Joyce pushed back on these fears.
“Most of these data centres use a closed-loop water system that is actually much more efficient than other facilities out there,” he claimed. “So there's lot of misinformation out there, and but I think that we all need to focus on how [data centres] benefit society.”
Big Tech executives have pointed out that advancements in recent years to increase water efficiency, and noting that golf courses and farms still consume far more water.
There is a lack of consensus among experts as to how to measure water usage for data centres, given their differing locations with some built in, or near, “water stressed” communities.
Mr Joyce insisted that the Trump White House was addressing these and other concerns, while trying maintain the US lead in AI.
“If you look at a couple states, the electricity rates have actually dropped for the average consumer,” he said. “This is only beginning to start, and I think that if we continue down this route you'll see a lot of benefits.”
