Bisant criticizes massive investments in artificial intelligence

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized technology companies for pouring massive investments into artificial intelligence, arguing that they have failed to engage with local communities and explain the benefits of data centers. Bessent stated that the tech sector has done a “very poor job” of explaining itself, giving it a grade of D-, and noted that it has not listened enough to the concerns of the communities hosting these projects. Nevertheless, Bessent believes that the AI spending boom will drive a significant leap in US productivity, expecting its benefits to begin emerging within the next six months. He warned of Chinese competition, pointing out that China has come close to the United States in the AI race, and projected that the US share of global computing capacity would rise from about 55% to 60% last year to 80% by 2028. The world is heading toward an unprecedented investment boom in data centers, driven by the rapid expansion of AI technology use, with global spending on data centers expected to reach approximately $31.6 trillion by 2050, according to estimates by PwC. The firm said that potential investments could rise to around $50 trillion over the next two and a half decades if AI adoption accelerates beyond its base-case forecast. PwC expects the United States to account for about $15.1 trillion of total potential investments, representing nearly half of global spending, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at around $8.2 trillion, and Europe at approximately $5.6 trillion. For his part, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said that technology and AI development should focus on making them safe, with regulations addressing actual harms rather than theoretical or presumed ones. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman compared the rejection of AI in the United States to the rejection of electricity more than 100 years ago, adding that the transformation in this sector will be needed by all individuals and companies.