S. 4214 — Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act

This section states congressional findings that leading artificial intelligence experts and industry leaders, including Elon Musk, Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, and others, have warned of catastrophic consequences from unchecked artificial intelligence development and deployment—such as widespread job displacement, existential risks, surveillance states, and massive energy demands—and have called for regulation, pauses, and international coordination to ensure safety.

This section defines an artificial intelligence data center as buildings, equipment, and structures on a single or connected site owned or operated by the same entity that are used for developing or operating AI models at scale or have power capacity over 20 megawatts with racks receiving 20 kilowatts or more or advanced liquid cooling systems. This section imposes a moratorium on commencing or proceeding with construction or upgrading of such data centers beginning on the date of enactment until laws are enacted ensuring (1) federal review and approval of AI products for safety, effectiveness, and protection of health, privacy, civil rights, and humanity; (2) AI economic gains benefit workers through job displacement prevention and wealth sharing; and (3) post-moratorium data centers avoid increasing consumer utility bills, exacerbating climate change or environmental harm, require community approval, receive no government subsidies, and create union jobs with prevailing wages, registered apprenticeships, and project labor agreements—with such laws expressly terminating the moratorium. This section directs the Secretary of Energy to submit quarterly reports to Congress on artificial intelligence data centers—made publicly available online—detailing financial vehicles, water and energy usage, emissions, wastewater, cooling chemicals, noise, wages and benefits, jobs created, agreements, and subsidy certifications; and authorizes the Secretary to verify compliance through subpoenas, interrogatories, inspections, and permitting conditions.

This section defines "computing infrastructure hardware" as semiconductors, integrated circuits, and products containing integrated circuits, including computers, networking equipment, and data storage systems. It directs the Secretary of Commerce, on and after the date of enactment, to prohibit the export, reexport, or in-country transfer (as defined in 50 U.S.C. 4801) of such hardware for use (1) in an artificial intelligence data center or (2) otherwise in the training or deployment of artificial intelligence models at scale—(1) to or in any country that does not have statutes or regulations comparable to those described in section 3(b)(1); or (2) to any person in such a country.