AI giants promise billions in future public benefits

US technology companies facing public anger are competing to promise billions of dollars in support, tied directly to their growth and large infrastructure projects, ERR commentator Kristjan Port writes. It is too early to know how those pledges compare with the value the public is being asked to give up, he says.

Predictions can be a sincere effort to reduce uncertainty, but they can also be used to influence people’s decisions. Port points to a familiar example: a parent warning that children who do not study will face a criminal and unhappy future.

Before the US midterm elections, the country’s president is using both approaches, Port writes: warning of a terrible future if he loses and promising each citizen $5,000 if his side wins.

AI companies are also making promises, while presenting citizens with choices they did not previously face. Communities can decide whether data centres, the infrastructure powering the new economy, may be built on municipal land. Companies are also hoping people will invest their savings in AI firms planning to go public.

At the same time, claims that AI will solve every problem are being accompanied by warnings about job disruption, higher electricity bills and a growing environmental burden. The public must weigh whether AI’s expected value justifies the resources devoted to it, including resources that could be used for other purposes.

Research firm Gartner has described building AI data centres and electricity networks as the largest infrastructure project in human history. Based on agreements and forecasts so far, annual AI spending could reach several trillion dollars over the next five years. The sector is drawing on global capital, energy, high-tech manufacturing, construction capacity and skilled labour.

Port says people should pay closer attention to the growing promises, which are currently being made mainly in the United States, where leading AI developers are based and building capacity. He says it may only be a matter of time before similar appeals are made to Europeans.

Before its stock market listing, Anthropic pledged to allocate five percent of its shares to charity. Recent estimates put the stake’s paper value at about $48 billion. The shares would go into a public-benefit fund, but only if shareholders approve.