AI Frontier Institute

Environmental impacts to Minnesota of artificial intelligence study requirement and appropriation

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Minnesota S.F. No. 1117 was introduced on 2025-02-06 and referred to the Environment, Climate, and Legacy committee. It has not been enacted. If enacted, Section 1 would require the commissioner of the Pollution Control Agency to submit a report on the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence by January 1, 2027. The report would go to the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over environment policy and energy policy. It would have to include: (1) energy use and pollution across the full lifecycle of AI models; (2) the same for AI hardware, including raw material extraction, manufacturing, and electronic waste; (3) energy and water use for cooling data centers; (4) how choices about model efficiency, data center location, power source and design, and hardware type affect those impacts; (5) possible acute local impacts such as grid stress, water stress, or noise; (6) positive environmental impacts of AI applications; (7) negative impacts, such as rebound effects, behavioral impacts, and acceleration of high-pollution activities; (8) disparate impacts of the negative effects; (9) an estimate of likely impacts on Minnesota under various AI deployment scenarios; and (10) any other impacts the commissioner finds relevant. Under Section 1(b), the commissioner must give stakeholders and interested members of the public opportunities to engage during the study. Sec. 2 would appropriate an unspecified amount (left blank in the bill) from the general fund in fiscal year 2026 to the commissioner to conduct the study and prepare the report.

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