Experts tell House panel AI will sharply raise U.S. power needs; bipartisan fixes urged on permitting, transmission and incentives

A panel of industry executives, former energy officials and AI experts told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that rapid advances in artificial intelligence are already reshaping electricity demand and that Congress must act to ensure reliable, affordable power.

At a full committee hearing, witnesses said AI training and data-center growth will require major new generation and transmission capacity and that permitting delays and policy uncertainty threaten U.S. competitiveness. ‘‘The AI revolution is under hyped,’’ said Eric Schmidt, chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project, warning that next‑generation AI will need far more computation and therefore far more energy.

The testimony laid out three broad, near-term priorities: preserve and accelerate federal incentives and grants that reduce the cost of new generation; reform permitting and interconnection rules to move new generation and transmission faster; and take an "all‑of‑the‑above" approach to supply — including renewables plus dispatchable sources such as natural gas, advanced nuclear and other emerging technologies.

Why it matters: Witnesses said the size and speed of the change is unlike previous IT cycles. Schmidt and others compared the scale of projected data‑center…