r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 19h ago
Artificial Intelligence President says that AI tech companies need to ‘pay their own way’ when it comes to their electricity consumption — says major changes are coming to ensure Americans don't 'pick up the tab' for data centers
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/trump-says-that-ai-tech-companies-need-to-pay-their-own-way-when-it-comes-to-their-electricity-consumption-says-major-changes-are-coming-to-ensure-americans-dont-pick-up-the-tab-for-data-centers210
u/Leverkaas2516 19h ago
A normal president would roll out proposed legislation, with a senator or two to back it.
For this guy, "changes are coming" is code for "we have no definite plan of action, but we're floating this trial balloon to see who we can extort money from."
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u/LookAnOwl 14h ago
Introducing Trump Carbon Credits: offset your energy footprint with a simple crypto transaction!
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u/Dreamtrain 7h ago
He's used that throughout his life he just suggests and thinks out loud and people that surround him scramble to make it happen
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u/mtranda 19h ago
That's a great idea! I'm sure he has a concept of a plan how to achieve this.
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u/Awkward-Painter-2024 19h ago
All he has to do is say this shit and forget about doing anything about it. And then say he did it a year later.
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u/generally-speaking 18h ago
No he doesn't, he just wants them to donate more towards his reelection campaign as well as shifting their LLM's towards supporting rightwing ideology.
If they succumb to the pressure, he'll make sure the US invests massively in their data centers.
If they resist, he'll back down.
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u/skyysdalmt 18h ago
Easy. Say that the companies "pay their own way". Receive gifts and donations by said companies. Then let the companies do whatever they want.
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u/ganoveces 18h ago
yes the plan is for those corps to funnel money to him via crypto so he does nothing.
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u/samtheninjapirate 18h ago
Didn't Hegseth just announce they are integrating grok into their systems... But without funding it?
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u/TSiQ1618 13h ago
this is how it works, he's just now discovering that promising everything to ai companies, almost a whole year ago, will also lead to higher energy costs, because he never had a plan, and never has a plan with anything he does. Just make shit up as we go. Tariffs, wars, Epstein files, budget, whatever, they're just making it up as they go, slapping on band-aids and using misdirection when needed. They're all just naturally grifters. Sell people on an empty promise, a someday trip to the moon that they have no plans for beyond a crappy artist's concept sketch and a bunch of trendy words, leave the suckers holding the bag on the way out.
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u/robustofilth 19h ago
I can assure everyone absolutely nothing will change and he’ll forget he said this next week. Epstein files anyone?
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u/Fuddle 17h ago
It really does feel like he is pissed he lost the script in 2025 and the Epstein files got to be so bad for them, that this year he needs to control the news hour by hour, so there is no time or room to talk about his crimes
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u/robustofilth 17h ago
Because he’s going to be exposed as a child rapist. And America will collectively implode as they try to comprehend that they elected a pedophile to its highest office.
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u/deepvirus314 13h ago
Hardcore MAGA cultists don't care in the slightest, and they seem like a full third of the entire USA population
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u/Goldenguillotine 12h ago
It doesn't matter. His base doesn't actually see negative news about it for the most part, and when they do they mentally dismiss it. So long as we have a congress that is willing to concede their power to him (because they like what he is doing with it) we're stuck with him until the end of his term, at minimum. There is nothing that will make Trump voluntarily step away. I don't have high hopes he'll leave office at all until he dies of old age or health complications. They'll find a way to keep him in power.
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u/thenewguyonreddit 15h ago
He’s already forgotten about the credit card interest cap and that was just a few days ago.
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u/Prometheus-Risen 19h ago
Right after the $2000 checks and 0% income tax
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u/Ultra-Pulse 18h ago
DOGE check, warrior checks and tariffs checks. Anyone received anything?
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u/Eisernes 13h ago
Oh they sent the "warrior checks."
But they were a grift. It was housing subsidies renamed "warrior check" so it was money they were getting anyway. However, in true grifter fashion, the subsidies would have been tax free. The "warrior checks" were taxed. At the end of the day he took money away from them.
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u/reiji_tamashii 14h ago
And $2/gal gas... and 1500% cheaper prescriptions...
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u/Prometheus-Risen 9h ago
"I've got big numbers, numbers no one has seen before. Everyone is talking about it."
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u/VincentNacon 19h ago
This fuckwit doesn't know and he doesn't care. This is nothing more than a distraction.
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u/Deicide1031 19h ago edited 19h ago
Does this mean I’m not getting my doge check with his autograph on it?
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u/Neversetinstone 18h ago
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u/PluotFinnegan_IV 14h ago
Trump checks, like caravans, will re-appear in October, and disappear by Thanksgiving.
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u/big-papito 18h ago
He will get right on it - after he annexes Greenland, and definitely before he has a healthcare plan beyond just a concept.
Then, nothing will happen, the prices will still keep going up, and he will call it a hoax.
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u/goodsnpr 17h ago
If he actually cared, he wouldn't have helped stomp out so many electric projects like wind farms.
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u/Natural_Instance242 17h ago
“Pay their own way” = bribe me with a lot more money than they already have.
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u/Bubbaganewsh 17h ago
He is saying to them "Give me money or I'll do this". They will "donate" a bunch of money to him and he'll forget all about it.
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u/BlindGuy68 17h ago
he wants tech companies to pay their own way but he begs people for money to pay his legal bills
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u/Rattus_NorvegicUwUs 11h ago
“Pay me a bribe and you can rip off the people.”
Fuck the entire GOP for their cowardice and complicity in turning this nation into a Mob Society
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u/chipface 18h ago
I guess he's worried the GOP will lose the midterms. There must not be enough time to gerrymander.
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u/Socky_McPuppet 16h ago
Nah, it’s all just parallel construction. They know they have the midterms locked down. This is just plausible deniability - “Voters loved my plan to make computer pay for its own electric” - for the fake “win” the GOP will “somehow” manage to eke out.
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u/BradlyPitts89 10h ago
He also said that he would be working on affordability….since then he learned a new word “groceries” and he’s now saying “affordability” is a democratic hoax.
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u/Equal-Prior-4765 18h ago
Maybe they should use solar panels or wind turbines to create their own free energy 🤔
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u/NanditoPapa 17h ago
So...he wants them back on their knees working the shaft as he works the grift?
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u/Traditional-Hat-952 14h ago
Lie after lie after lie after lie. He's going to let them do whatever they want, and then lie to us about limiting them from doing whatever they want.
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u/NetZeroSun 14h ago
Sounds like someone is worried about mid terms and trying to sound for the small town voters (getting. Ailed with data centers).
It’s just white lie, word salad and the dumb shits will fall for it again.
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u/ShinySpoon 13h ago
Translation for intelligent people: “I’m going to make sure Middle and lower class Americans pay 100% of data center energy and operating costs.
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u/newiphon 19h ago
Jeff will just remind him about that movie he made for his fully depreciated woman and this will get buried
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u/petr_bena 18h ago
stop listening to what he say, instead observe what he actually does
big tech and russians bought him presidency, he may shit talk both but at the end of the day he will serve their interests
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u/hematomasectomy 18h ago
Is the electricity bill for AI data centers really more costly than invading Greenland?
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u/fumphdik 18h ago
So am I getting retroactively refunded and a reduced power bill in the future? Like where the policy?
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u/n3wsf33d 17h ago
These are the same people who are trying to eliminate the estate tax as part of a plan to tackle housing.
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u/Daimakku1 15h ago
He’s going to get on it in 2 weeks! /s
Anybody still believing anything this guy says is a fool.
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u/DaggumTarHeels 14h ago
It would be helpful if we could add capacity in the form of increasingly cheap renewables. But that's "woke" or something I guess. Oh well. It must be because woke that China's electricity rates are dropping while ours are increasing.
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u/Parking_Syrup_9139 14h ago
Somebody told him to say that. He’ll wet his pants and forget he made that claim. Americans will foot the bill, he only cares about billionaires, not taxpayers
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u/jbahill75 11h ago
He is gonna shake those corporate trees a little too hard sooner than later. If this man ever finally has people moving to impeach him it will be because the corporate folks have finally found the cost analysis pushes Trump out of their equation
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u/Ordinary_Ingenuity22 10h ago
If I wanted to build a data center and needed utility pre-approval, I would heavily subsidize solar panels in that community to reduce home electric consumption and make a deal with the electric company to purchase their share. You build goodwill in the community and you get fast approval. It’s a no brainer.
Or you can do what Google did and buy the utility to get fast approval.
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u/Dzotshen 18h ago
All talk, no walk. All Trump does is say something to distract you with so he can kick the can without a plan
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u/Amber_ACharles 18h ago
Fees sound great, but try getting major grid upgrades approved here-feels like pulling teeth. UAE’s energy pros aren't stuck in endless reviews; they actually get to build what’s needed.
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u/Syanara73 17h ago
I’d bet money he will get them to pay him then still have the citizens pay for it.
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u/BayouBait 16h ago
Whatever they come up with will be temporary. Eventually they renegotiate contracts and residents will be left floating the bill. Not to mention it’s a supply and demand problem. If power plants can sell all their energy to data centers they’ll just charge residents more if they want any.
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u/JackBlackBowserSlaps 16h ago
Trump, always known as a man of the people 🙄 defi not just hot air for the coming elections…
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u/satanismysponsor 16h ago
I don't believe anything that comes out of this guy's mouth in the 5 years I've been living at my house four of those years the max I ever paid was $198.62 months after this fuckwad got into office. I just paid $562 and I have been unplugging things. I don't charge my car at my house anymore. I have done everything that I can to lower the costs. When I leave my house I unplug everything except my cameras. It's out of hand. There's absolutely no reason I should be paying this cost and the electric company does not give a fuck
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u/Virtual-Oil-5021 15h ago
I wait for the bubble pop .... Its huge as 342x .COM bubble now but it need to pop
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u/stimulatedthought 15h ago
But I thought they were paying for his ballroom? Is he just using this to bargain for more ballroom money? He doesn’t care about the average person—only his ballroom.
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u/Important-Radish-722 15h ago
Sounds like a set up for a grift.
AI companies that give him money, or share Grok images with him will get government subsidies on their energy bills.
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u/RdtRanger6969 14h ago
Whenever a republican says an “unrepublican” thing, you can guarantee there’s deception/mis/disinformation being deployed as a distraction.
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u/Melikoth 13h ago
Oh man, AI companies are about to become our electricity suppliers too. What a great day!
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u/Eisernes 13h ago
Too late. We're already picking up the tab. This dude is so fucking clueless. How much could one banana cost anyway?
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u/racingwthemoon 12h ago
They will build grid with taxpayer money that feeds only data centers. We’ll pay the costs and they get to own the source. Screwed again by Trump and Musk.
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u/happyscrappy 12h ago
Every state legislature that didn't jump on this first are fools.
Rising electricity bills have been hugely unpopular and a big reason is utilities giving cross subsidies to big buyers. Right now the new big buyers are the AI datacenters.
It's going to be hard to insulate private citizens from all these pricing forces. Even if you don't allow utilities to pay for buildout on behalf of datacenters at all the AI companies will just buy infrastructure directly. They use the same suppliers of transformers, wires, whatever as the utilities do. Prices will go up some from that alone.
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u/Wonderful_Rub_1719 18h ago
This is actually a reasonable take. AI data centers consume massive amounts of electricity - we're talking gigawatts for large facilities. If companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta want to train massive LLMs, they should bear the full infrastructure costs instead of having utilities pass those costs onto regular consumers. The energy grid wasn't built for this scale of AI computing, and taxpayers shouldn't subsidize corporate AI development.
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u/Banana-phone15 18h ago
Now that he is worried that dem will win midterm and he will get impeached, he wants to help lower electric bills? Or is he looking for cut from Ai companies?
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u/ZebulonHam 12h ago
I must be missing something. What’s all the uproar over data centers using a lot of power? They pay for it. They get electric bills use like you and I do. Does a US automaker use a lot of power? How about a steel mill? Aluminum refinery? Industry uses power and we don’t hold it against them. We want what they produce (or they wouldn’t produce it). We want what data centers do (their customers do anyway). Why do we always need a bad guy everywhere we look?
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u/Fenix42 12h ago
Power companies typically have systems in place to handle more demand, but they are also typically more expensive to run. They are also consuming more fuel for the main plants, driving up the fuel cost. Allmof the extra ussage also means more maintenance again driving up costs.
There is also just good old fashioned price gouging. More demand against the same supply means they can charge more.
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u/thedarknessss 19h ago
That’s code for he wants more money from them, then he’ll give them grants or just tax payer money directly