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Who's Paying for AI's Electric Bill? · The Briefing Room

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Somewhere in America, a computer is writing a business plan,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: answering a medical question, or helping somebody create a picture
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of a vacation they have not taken. Somewhere else, an
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: actual building is using actual electricity to make that happen.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Today, follow the power.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: From Blackcess Media, 92.7 FM, WICU HD2, this is The
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Briefing Room with Marcus Atkinson, unlocking the culture.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: You know, I like artificial intelligence, AI. I really do.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: You know, there's something fascinating about typing a question into
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: a little box and watching the computer produce an answer
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: before you've even finished second guessing the question that you've asked.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: This technology is already changing the way people work, the
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: way they create, research, communicate, and operate businesses.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Because listen, I use it myself. Many of you have
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: used it.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: And if it saves me two hours on a task
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I didn't particularly want to do in the first place,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: I'm definitely not complaining. But I am learning something about
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: this AI intelligence revolution. The intelligence might be artificial, but
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: everything it needs to operate is very real. We're talking
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: about real land, real buildings, real cooling systems, real workers,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: and apparently an electricity supply substantial enough to get the
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: attention of Congress, governors, and the people who send us
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: those little envelopes marked payment due. So on Tuesday, President
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Trump brought technology executives to the White House for an
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: agreement about artificial intelligence safety. During that same event, he
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: emphasized the expansion of data centers.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: That's one story.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: A different initiative, introduced back in March, is the administration's
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Participating companies promise to cover the additional
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: power supply and infrastructure associated with their facilities rather than
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: shifting those project costs onto ordinary customers like you and I.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: Those two agreements should not be confused, and this is
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: why we're doing this show today. The pledge sounds very reassuring.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: It's also worth reading, because you and I know the
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: difference between somebody saying, oh, I got this, and somebody
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: actually reaching.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: For their wallet when the server brings the bill.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Now, I've attended enough group dinners to understand that the
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: payment arrangement should be clear before somebody orders lobster and
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: then announces that we're going to split the bill six
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: different ways. That's not the way this thing should work.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: So we're going to take a look beneath all that
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: futuristic language. What exactly is a data center? Why do
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: these facilities need so much power? What has the industry
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: agreed to pay? What is the government trying to establish?
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And how can a community determine whether it has a
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: good agreement or simply very impressive groundbreaking ceremony? This isn't
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: an episode about fearing technology.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: We're going to look at the promise, the cost, the disagreement,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: and the fine print.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Later, we have three political quick hits then three fresh cases,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: and barbershop court.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I'm Marcus Atkinson. Welcome to The Briefing Room.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: From Blackcess Media, 92.7 FM, WICU HD2, this is The
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Briefing Room with Marcus Atkinson. One central question, the stories
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: moving politics, and when common sense requires a ruling, barbershop court.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Today's Briefing Room is presented by G & M Getaways. Now,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: here's Marcus Atkinson.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to yet another edition of The Briefing
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Room right here on Black Test Media.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I am your host, Marcus Atkinson.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: And in the background, you are listening to the sweet
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: sounds of one George Morgan III, a.k.a. Buddy Love, kicking
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: that theme song to The Briefing Room. Sounds so good,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: don't you agree? This is a show that I have
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: anticipated for quite some time. Every time I turn on
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Facebook or some other social media platform. And I see
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: all of these cute little photos or images that have
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: been made by AI.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: You know, my wife is a teacher.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Maybe there's an image of her as a teacher with
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: all the kids in the background screaming and books falling
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: from the sky like it's rain or other people picture
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: themselves as pro athletes and yada, yada, yada.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: And it's so cute. And I say to myself each
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: and every time.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: You all have no idea the power that you are
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: wielding in your hand and what it takes to make
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: that power accessible. People are just so enamored with it
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: that they're preoccupied and not necessarily paying attention to what's
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: in the process of landing right on their front doorstep.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: And so on today's show, we want to undress this
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: act by act so that you can have a better
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: understanding and appreciation for how this is going to change
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: the world we live in and hit you.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Right in the pocketbook some way, shape or form.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: So fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, if you thought
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: AI was all fun and games and We are definitely
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: about to change that perception. All right, so picture this
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: with me. You ask your phone to help you write
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: a letter. Maybe you ask it to design a flyer.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: You ask it what your business should charge for a
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: service or why the engine light keeps appearing on the dashboard.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: A few seconds later, here comes the answer. Now, if
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: you're not careful, the convenience makes the process seem almost magical.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: It feels as though the information lives somewhere in the air,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: just waiting for us to pull it down. We call
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: it the cloud, which may be the finest public relations
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: decision technology ever made.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Cloud sounds light. It sounds fluffy, harmless.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: You imagine a little white puff floating over your neighborhood. Meanwhile,
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: the thing has a mortgage-sized construction budget, cooling equipment, security fencing,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: electrical switchgear, fiber optic connections, and a local planning commission meeting.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: You ever notice nobody calls it the giant industrial computing complex?
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't have quite the same ring to it, would it?
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: A data center is essentially a specialized building that holds
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: the servers and associated with equipment that store, transmit and
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: process digital information.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: They are not all AI centers.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: These facilities have supported banking, hospital systems, Internet services, communications
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: and our digital lives for years.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: But the new demand.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Created by advanced AI has expanded the conversation because training
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: and operating powerful models can require a great deal of
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: computing power. More computing equipment often means more electricity and
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: more heat to manage. That's why this is suddenly showing
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: up in arguments about development, power plants, utility bills, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: good old-fashioned H2O, of which we have a great appreciation
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: for right here in Erie, Pennsylvania, because we are sitting on,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: wait for it, Lake Erie, of course. And so is Cleveland,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: for that matter. Sidebar, do you know some dude in
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Cleveland actually had the nerve to act like he had
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: never heard of Erie, Pennsylvania? I was there for a game.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Where are you from? I'm from Erie, Pennsylvania. Where is
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: that at?
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Dude, you're sitting right here on Lake Erie. Don't get
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: brand new or you're that dumb or you're being facetious.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: But I digress.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: One of these projects can involve a land deal, zoning,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: backup generators, contracts for electricity, construction jobs and questions from
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: neighbors about noise or environmental impact. There's a company interested
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: in building a facility. There's a utility trying to supply.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: There's somebody responsible for planning how the electric grid performs
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: when everybody needs power. all at the same time. And
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: there are public officials who may be asked to provide
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: incentives or make permitting decisions. Now, there's also a credible
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: economic case for building this infrastructure because it can create
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: substantial construction activity. We're talking about electrical workers, contractors, tradespeople,
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: and suppliers. They can all find opportunity during the development phase.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Depending on the project, communities may receive tax revenues or
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: other negotiated benefits. Businesses and public agencies are finding real
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: applications for advanced computing even as the long-term value of
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: individual AI investments remain uncertain. The promise isn't made up
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: just because there are reasonable questions about the cost. Now
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: enter the White House. On September 29th, Trump went to
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: the leaders of major AI and tech firms and announced
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: a voluntary agreement deal with safety practices. Reuters reported that
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: the event also featured his continued support for data center expansion,
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: despite concerns in some communities over utility and environmental impacts.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: That distinction matters. The new safety accord deals with how
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: AI systems are developed and reviewed. The earlier ratepayer protection
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: pledge deals with the economic responsibility for supplying the electricity. Now,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: those might be related policy conversations, but they're not the
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: same contract with a different cover on the front. The
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: people in this industry argue that the United States needs
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: to build capacity, innovation.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: And compete internationally. There's logic to that argument.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: If the technology becomes essential to commerce and research, Infrastructure
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: will be part of national economic planning, but those national
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: ambitions eventually arrive at a very local address. A facility
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: can be part of a multi-billion dollar industry while sitting
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: down the road from a homeowner, a small business, a
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: school district. And all of that needs dependable electricity at
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: a manageable price. And a company can make investments that
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: are valuable to a region without automatically answering every community question.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: The building itself is only the visible piece. The more
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: interesting conversation begins when we follow the cables out to
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: the grid, because if the new project needs a lot
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: of additional power, somebody's got to make sure the electricity exists,
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: reaches the site and stays reliable. This is where an
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: exciting technology announcement can turn into the kind of conversation
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: normally held over an electric bill and a calculator. And
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: this is when this conversation ceases to be some cute
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: contraption that you're pulling information out of the sky to
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: make images with and suddenly becomes a hardcore kitchen table issue.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: Act two, follow the electricity.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: All right, we're getting closer to making this a kitchen
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: table conversation at your kitchen.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Table for that matter.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: But I need you to bear with me for just
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: a minute or two first, because here's the big thing.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: number in this story. And I promise you, I'm not
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: about to spend the next six minutes sounding like an
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: electrical engineer, but I got to put this down so
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: that you can pick it up. It might be a
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: little heavy, but you can pick it up.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Trust me.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published an updated report in June.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Its modeling suggests that by 2030, The data center should
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: account for somewhere between 9.5 and 15.3 percent of all
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: electricity used in the United States.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Did you catch that?
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: All electricity used in the United States, depending on which
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: scenario develops. The report's reference estimate is 11.8 percent. Now,
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: those are projections. It's not a guarantee that the upper
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: number will happen, but the range illustrates why utilities and
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: government agencies are planning for serious additional demand. Now, to
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: understand this debate, I want you to separate three expenses.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: The first one, there has to be enough electricity available
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: to generate.
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Second, you need the transmission and delivery infrastructure to move
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: the power where it's needed. And third, you should really
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: be able to understand this. Somebody has to plan for
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: peak demand and reliability because you can picture all of
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: the gridlock from people using this technology all at the
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: same time in various pockets along the country. The giant
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: computer building doesn't get a special exemption from the laws
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: of physics. It can't place a server order on Monday
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: and assume a new transmission line will arrive Tuesday morning
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: with free two-day shipping. Now, there's also a local angle
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: to this for us in Pennsylvania, because much of our
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: region belongs to PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator covering
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Pennsylvania and parts of 12 other states, plus the District
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: of Columbia, good old-fashioned D.C. They coordinate wholesale electricity markets
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: and grid reliability over a very large territory. As recently
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: as September 30th, Reuters reported that PJM had begun reviewing
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: proposed large load adjustments for its next long-term forecast with
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: updated methods to assess whether planned projects are likely to materialize.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: That last part is very important. A proposal for a.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: Facility is not the same thing as a facility that's
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: already running around the clock. I want you to imagine
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: that a company proposes a complex large enough to change
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: what the.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Local utility expects to deliver.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Serving it might require a new substation, lines, or additional
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: generating capacity. The utility needs to decide how to recover
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: the cost of its investment. They generally operate under rules
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: established by public regulators. The exact rates and cost sharing
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: mechanisms may vary by state, utility and project. Now, in
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: a poorly structured arrangement, expenses attributable to one very large
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: customer can potentially become shared more broadly. Are you following
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: me so far? Attributed to a very large customer, shared
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: more broadly.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: You see where this is going, right?
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: In a better defined arrangement, the additional cost can be
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: assigned to that customer, backed by appropriate terms and financial protections.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: And here's a question that deserves more attention than it
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: usually receives. What if the project doesn't happen? What if
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: a company announces a giant data center, which everybody seems
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: to be in favor of because it sounds cool or
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: it sounds like it provides jobs, but they do that
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: announcement and the utility invests to accommodate it, and the
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: developer later scales back, changes location, or discovers that that
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: its technology needs less electricity. The equipment and the infrastructure
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: don't vanish because the press release has been withdrawn. Regulators
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: call that possibility stranded costs. Now that's a very fascinating term,
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: stranded costs. You know what the rest of us might
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: describe that as? We may describe that as buying a
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: second refrigerator for somebody who moved out before it arrived.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: That's why the rate agreement matters. Now you might have
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: heard the term take or pay. It's not a complicated concept.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: In a relevant agreement, The customer commits to paying for
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: a specified amount of capacity or infrastructure, even if it
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: ends up using less than expected. That can help prevent
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: the unused investment from being shifted on to other customers.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: And if you haven't picked up on it yet, the
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: other customers we're talking.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: About are us. That's why we're doing this show.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: A security deposit, long-term contract, or other financial guarantees may
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: also be a part of the arrangement, depending on the
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: utility's rules. President Trump's ratepayer protection pledge speaks directly to
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: these concerns. The March commitment from major technology firms says
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: participants will build, bring or buy the additional power they need,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: cover delivery upgrades required for their facilities, negotiate separate arrangements
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: with utilities and governments, and pay for the capacity arranged
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: for them, whether or not they use all of it.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: The White House has since listed additional participating utilities, developers,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: and other stakeholders. The pledge also addresses local workforce investment
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: and grid resilience. Now, it's important to say what this
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: pledge is and what it is not. It's an announced
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: set of commitments with considerable participation, according to.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: The White House. It is not all by itself anyways.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Proof of these terms are proof for every future project
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: at every state utility commission. The Brookings Institute examined this
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: in July. Broad commitments need to become detailed tariff and
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: cost allocation rules if the financial protections are to operate
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: in practice. Now, that's where state regulators, utilities, contracts, and
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: in some cases, legislation come into the story. Let me
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: use an example that most people are familiar with. Think
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: about an apartment lease. Now, this roommate that you're looking
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: at may be absolutely sincere when they say, don't worry,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: I'll cover my half.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: That sounds great.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: But if the rent is due on the 1st and
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: somebody's got to put money down for the security deposit,
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: you probably want the actual terms written somewhere other than
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: just some hard emoji in a text message. Now, that
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean the roommate is lying to you. It means
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: a promise and an operating agreement have two separate jobs. Now,
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: let me just pause for a second and say you
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: guys are doing great. We are landing on your kitchen
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: table any minute now.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Stick with me.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Hang in there, because before we move on, I got
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: to make one more distinction. It would be irresponsible to
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: point at somebody's higher monthly electric bill and declare that
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: a single new data center caused that entire increase, because
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: that would be false. That would be misleading. Electricity prices
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: can move because of fuel prices. wholesale supply, infrastructure, weather,
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: rate cases, and other factors. Data center demand is a
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: serious planning issue, but each claim bill impact deserves evidence
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: from the relevant utility and regulators. So you can ask
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: hard questions without pretending every price change has one villain.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: We're not trying to paint that picture. I just want
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: to make sure that's clear. So the national question is
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: becoming more concrete. Companies are promising to shoulder the appropriate
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: infrastructure costs. governments are considering how to make those commitments work.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: And the next person who matters in this equation may
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: be someone much closer to home. The resident who shows
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: up at a planning meeting and asks what this means
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: for the place they actually live. I told you we're
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: getting to your kitchen table. Go on and slide the
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: chair out in just a minute. We're going to sit
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: down and I want you to grab that utility bill
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: in just a minute.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Act three, the community equation.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: I just returned from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual conference.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Washington, D.C.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: And one thing about being around that many conversations at
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: once is you get reminded of how national policy eventually
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: becomes somebody's neighborhood issue, the kitchen table.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Issue that we've been talking to you about.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: The Washington Informer covered a September 17th discussion during the
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: conference involving Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter and Meta President Dina
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: Powell McCormick about the responsibility of technology companies to surrounding communities.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: The broader reporting examined A.I., infrastructure, and environmental justice. That's
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: a valuable connection here. The people living near proposed projects
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: aren't just some footnote in the technology story.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: They're a part of the story.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: I said to you earlier that when people hear data center,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: it's like, yes, because that sounds sexy or to create jobs.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: That's the mindset.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: A lot of these communities welcome a project because it
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: has vacant industrial land. It wants construction opportunities or it
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: hopes to expand its tax base. That's reasonable. You understand
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: why people would react like that. Another may be concerned, though,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: about water use, noise, emissions from backup equipment, land conversion
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: or the terms under which electrical capacity is allocated. Different
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: residents can evaluate the same proposal differently. And there's no
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: reason to pretend black voters, black business owners or black
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: neighborhoods all have one identical set of priorities because they don't.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: We ought to be able to talk about opportunity and
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: practical terms, which jobs are temporary construction positions. That's a
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: reasonable question to ask. Which positions remain once the facility
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: is operating? Are contractors based in the region and can
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: qualified local firms compete for work? What about training? Is
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: there an apprenticeship or workforce training plan? Are schools or
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: community institutions receiving any concrete investment from this? A promise
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: that a facility will bring jobs is the beginning of
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: that conversation. It's not the conclusion. A construction project employing
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: people for two years and a permanent employer with a
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: large local workforce is are two different economic propositions. The
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: NAACP published a community roadmap earlier this year showing residents
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: the various decision-making rooms where data center proposals can be examined.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: That includes planning and zoning bodies, water boards, city and
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: county councils, public utility commissions, health and air permitting authorities,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: and state and federal officials. It's useful because a person
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: may show up at a zone meeting to ask about
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: a price of electricity only to discover that the commission
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: in the room doesn't set their utility rate. You got
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: to know which office controls which decisions. Otherwise, you can
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: deliver a beautiful five-minute speech to the one person in
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: government who doesn't have the authority to fix the problem.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: And this is where your Pennsylvania connection gets even more immediate.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: In May, Governor Josh Shapiro announced the state's Responsible Infrastructure
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: Development Standards, known as GRID. The framework addresses energy affordability, transparency,
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: and community engagement, jobs and economic development, and environmental protection
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: for data centers seeking state support. Then in August, Shapiro
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: signed an executive order directing Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: to incorporate GRID into its permit review process with binding
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: commitments and local improvement conditions. These are actions with specific
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: scope and administrative mechanisms, not a claim that every question
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: about future development has already been settled. That means this
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: conversation is not only taking place in Washington. In Pennsylvania,
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: people can examine the actual project proposal the local approval process,
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: the state requirements, and the associated utility agreements. They can
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: distinguish a developer's voluntary community presentation from the obligations it
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: has formally undertaken. And they can also ask how a
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: project will fit the community's needs instead of assuming that
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: the company or its critics automatically have the full picture.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Black community reporting, like Blackcess Media, of course, adds a
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: particular historical concern that deserves examinations. Who gets a seat
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: at that table when major public and private investments are
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: being negotiated? It's not enough to announce that development will
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: lift an entire region and then discover that several neighborhoods
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: never knew the discussion was even happening. Equally, we shouldn't
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: dismiss residents who see an opportunity for tradespeople, black-owned contractors,
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: technology training, or additional local economic activity. Those interests can
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: coexist with the concerns about affordability and environmental conditions. I
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: want to offer five questions I would carry into a
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: conversation about one of these facilities. Who's responsible for the
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: extra power infrastructure? What are the terms if the project
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: changes or disappears? What specific local work and training are
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: being promised? Which bodies approve water, land, and environmental conditions?
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: And where will the public be able to hear whether
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: the agreements are being fulfilled? None of these questions require
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: an anti-technology position. In fact, they're useful precisely because of
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: development might be worth pursuing. This is the part of
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: economic development that rarely makes the glamorous photograph. A giant
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: architectural rendering looks great behind the podium. The meaningful details
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: often live in a contract, though, not on that photo
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: or that image that you're so enamored with. A public
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: meeting agenda, a regulatory filing, and a few paragraphs that
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: somebody absolutely hopes you will scroll past, which brings us
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: to the biggest disagreement in Washington right now. How much
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: of this needs to remain a commitment and how much
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: ought to be an enforceable rule.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: The headline announces a promise. The paperwork determines what happens next.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Act 4, the promise and the paperwork.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: In this week's news, Congress has returned to the data
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: center issue. A House pass measure sponsored in the Senate
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: by Republican John Husted of Ohio would require utility regulators
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: to consider a standard under which large electricity customers pay
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: rates covering the system upgrades needed to serve them. The
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: House approved the bill on September 16th by a vote
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: of 417 to 3. As of September 30th, our reporting cutoff,
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: the Senate was preparing to consider this. Now, this is
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: a proposed legislative approach, not a law already governing every utility.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: Support is regarded as a bipartisan federal step that can
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: encourage ratepayer protection. Houston has argued that it provides a
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: practical path to action. But the criticism from some Senate
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Democrats is that asking regulators to consider a standard is
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: different from requiring the specific protections to take effect. New
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich has backed an alternative that would
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue rules addressing
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: how large customers pay for necessary grid upgrades. Now, the
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: difference between those approaches is an actual policy question, not
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: just the color of jerseys worn by the sponsors. I
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: want you to think about a city ordinance that says
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: a restaurant should consider cleaning its sidewalk versus one that
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: tells the restaurant precisely what it must maintain with a
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: process for enforcement. There is a huge difference, and I
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: think you can understand that analogy. Depending on the situation,
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: both can influence behavior. They're not identical instructions. There may
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: be reasons for keeping some decisions with the state utility
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: regulators who work with local market structures. There may also
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: be arguments for a common baseline when a fast-growing industry
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: crosses state lines. Those are the competing considerations lawmakers are
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: working through right now as we speak. The voluntary pledge, meanwhile,
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: is not an empty concept simply because people are debating enforceability.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Major participating firms have publicly accepted responsibility for power supply
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: and upgrades. Governments and utilities can turn that commitment into
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: binding project-level arrangements. Brookings notes that several states already have
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: versions of special rate structures or other protections for large
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: power users, although the approaches are different.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: It's also possible to support the growth.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: Of new technology and still ask how a ratepayer will
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: know a protection is functioning. Those positions don't automatically cancel
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: each other out. Now, the most useful question may be
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: what the rules do when something goes wrong. Say a
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: facility needs capacity that requires expensive upgrades. The company gets
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: his permits and electricity contract. Construction begins. Then the commercial
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: plan changes. Does its financial obligation continue for the facilities
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: built on its behalf? What happens to the utility's remaining customers?
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: And if the answer depends on a contract, we ought
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: to examine the contract. If the answer depends on a
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: pending law, we should not announce that the law has
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: already solved it. The other complication is that power demand
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: forecasts are just that, forecasts. Lawrence Berkeley gives a range.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: PJM is actively reviewing which proposed large loads are realistic.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Utilities need to plan with uncertainty because building too little
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: can threaten reliability and building too much can create unnecessary cost.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Better forecasting, transparent project applications, and meaningful financial commitments all
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: become part of the same practical conversation. Here's where I
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: would land the entire documentary. We have a major new
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: industry creating real possibilities and significant infrastructure demands. The administration
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: has articulated a payment principle through its ratepayer pledge. State governments,
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: to include Pennsylvania, are defining their own conditions and members
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: of Congress are debating how to assign obligations in federal law.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: The agreements are at different stages and they do different things.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Nobody should collapse them into one big sentence that says
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: problem solved or, on the other hand, every project is
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: a disaster.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Neither is true.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: The verified question for each proposal is, is whether the
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: promised benefits and costs match the actual arrangements. So allow
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: me to leave you with a practical checklist. Before the
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: next big data center announcement in your region, I want
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: you to find out, one, whether the project has a
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: separate electricity rate or equivalent arrangement. Two, who pays for
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: the grid upgrades? Three, what happens if its demand falls
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: or the project closes? Four, which commitments to hiring and
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: the community are documented? And five, which public offices have
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: the authority to review or enforce these terms? The audience
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: doesn't need a degree in utility regulation to know those
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: are reasonable things to ask. Artificial intelligence may change the
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: way we work. The underlying economics still involve a customer,
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: an invoice, and somebody authorized to approve the deal.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: That's our central story.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: Now, we're going to broaden the lens now because the
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: rest of the political week did not exactly take a
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: nap while we were following the power lines.
• 27:38
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• 27:41
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• 27:43
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• 27:48
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• 28:07
  Speaker 1: One big story down. Three more developments worth your attention.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Political quick hits.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Quick hit one.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: Congress approved the funding, the president proposed taking it back,
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: and the fiscal year clock is running. First up, a
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: dispute over federal spending that sounds technical until you remember
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: how many public services operate on appropriated money. On September 25th,
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: President Trump sent Congress a special message proposing to rescind
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: funding from 11 federal appropriation accounts. Now, a rescission is
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: a request that Congress canceled money it previously approved. There's
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: a legal process for that. It's not simply a memo
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: from the president that erases a line in a congressional
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: spending law. On September 29th, the Government Accountability Office issued
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: a review under the Impoundment Control Act. GAO's finding was
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: that the president's proposed rescissions did not authorize withholding the
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: affected funds beyond the expiration of the 2026 fiscal year.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: The relevant budget authority was set up to expire September 30th.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Unless Congress enacted the cancellation, the applicable law required the
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: funds to be made available for obligation within the limits
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: of the law. GAO emphasized that its conclusion was about
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: Congress's spending authority, not a verdict on whether any of
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: the underlying programs was good policy. This is the distinction
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: that can disappear in a headline. Congress can debate a
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: program's value. The president can ask Congress to take money back.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: But proposing a rescission and successfully changing the law are
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: not the same event.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: One is a request, the other requires the legally prescribed action.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Imagine the treasurer of an organization receiving an approved budget
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: and then announcing the day before the year ends that
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: several programs no longer get their authorized money because the
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: executive office prefers a different plan. Well, that may start
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: an intense board meeting. It doesn't automatically rewrite the minutes
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: from the meeting where the funding was approved. And if
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: you're operating a community organization, a school program, a research project,
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: or a local grant funding initiative, these aren't abstract questions.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: Timing can matter as much as the size of the
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: funding decision. Managers need to know which expenses remain authorized,
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: whether commitments can be made, and what the controlling agency
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: guidance actually says. Before you repeat that particular program has
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: been officially eliminated, you've got to check whether Congress has
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: enacted that cancellation or whether a proposal and a legal
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: dispute are still moving through the process. Quick hit two,
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: the economy gets a report card. Consumers turn in their own.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that its U.S. Consumer
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: Confidence Index fell from 88.6 in August to 81.9 in September.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: That's a decline of 6.7 points. The survey also showed
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: weaker assessments of present business and labor market conditions and
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: declining expectations for income, business, and employment over the coming
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: six months. The field period was September 1st, through September 23rd.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: So we're talking about the attitudes captured during that window,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: not a measurement of every development that occurred afterwards.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Here's your useful distinction.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Consumer confidence is a survey of what people think about
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: their economic circumstances and near-term outlook. It isn't the inflation rate.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: It isn't the total amount of economic activity. It's not
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: a direct count of people who lost jobs. It matters
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: because expectations can explain decisions about spending, borrowing, and making
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: big purchases. A person who feels uncertain may delay a
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: car purchase, for example, a home renovation, even if they
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: still have income coming in. And economic advantages don't give
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: us one universal household experience. Income, housing costs, debt, age,
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: geography and family responsibilities all affect how people encounter the
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: same economy. The Fed reserves household well-being report released in
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: May describing financial conditions in 2025 found, for example, that
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: the share of black adults reporting that they were doing
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: OK financially or living comfortably declined five percentage points from 2024. Now,
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: that's a survey result about a specified population, not evidence
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: that every black household had the same experience or that
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: the September index is a black only measurement. My favorite
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: feature of economic language is the word resilient. We love
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: to say that the consumer is resilient. And sometimes all
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: that means is that a person has managed to pay
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: four expensive bills, and now has to make a sandwich
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: that lasts them until Friday. Resilience is admirable. It's not
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: the same thing as comfort. On the other hand, one
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: weak confidence reading does not prove that the entire economy
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: has collapsed. It tells us about sentiment and gives economists
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: and policymakers something to examine alongside the harder activity data.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: So when one person shows you a stock market chart
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: and another shows you a grocery receipt, they may both
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: be describing something real. They simply are not measuring the
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: same thing. And that's why you have to know which
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: economic number somebody is using before you let it settle
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: the entire argument at your kitchen table. Down in Texas,
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: the Trump administration is reconsidering the scale of proposed border
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: infrastructure in the Big Bend National Park area. According to
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: Associated Press reporting on September 30th, Big Bend is one
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: of the country's most distinctive protected landscapes. with the Rio
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: Grande running through a region of desert, mountains, and cultural sites.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: Border security officials have been considering infrastructure there as part
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: of a broader enforcement effort. Local residents, conservation groups, and
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: others have raised concerns about environmental impacts and damage to
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: the landscape. So here's why it belongs on the radar.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: In the United States, the federal government can have several
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: responsibilities all at once. It is responsible for managing an
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: international border. It's also responsible for preserving a national park
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: and considering relevant public and environmental interests under the applicable
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: legal framework. Those missions can come into tension in one
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: geographical location. A change in the construction plan may reflect
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: that tension, but it doesn't mean all border security plans
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: in that area have vanished altogether. AP reported that Customs
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: and Border Protection was considering scaling back parts of their
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: proposal after consultations, The situation remains developing. So the factual
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: question is what final project, if any, receives approval and
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: how the government explains the balance among competing interests. Think
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: about that meeting. One office arrives with a proposal for
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: more infrastructure. Another is responsible for protecting the scenery. Now,
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: you can almost hear somebody at the end of the
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: table saying, now, before we start, has anybody checked whether
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: the mountain is included in the construction zone? Different public missions,
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: same piece of land. It's exactly why details matter more
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: than the slogan on either side of this argument.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: And there you have it.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: The funding process, the household economy, and the Big Ben proposal.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: Three different stories, three very different kinds of accountability. Now
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: let's take that same habit of examining the details into
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: a room where the arguments get a little less formal.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: We are going to Barbershop Court.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, adjust your chairs. Secure your group chat evidence.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: The arguments may be serious, but nobody is immune from
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: a reasonable question. Three cases, one host. This is Barbershop
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Court with Marcus Atkinson.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: Now, we have three cases today, and I need you
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: to stay with me because the first one involves a
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: government advertisement. The second involves congressional legislation with a surprise guest.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: The third involves a political commercial starring somebody who was
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: never actually filmed doing the thing themselves.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: That they're doing? I'll explain.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: These are real subjects with wonderfully complicated questions. Court is
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: now in session.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: All rise.
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: Barbershop Court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Marcus presiding.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: Case one. When does a government public service announcement start
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: looking like a campaign commercial?
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Wynn does this because that public service announcement, putting
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: up big air quotes on that one, looked mighty suspicious.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Now, here's the case.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the Department of Homeland
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: Security had dedicated $ 20 million in taxpayer funding to television
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: and related advertisements prominently featuring President Trump.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Surprise, surprise.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: According to AP, the funding came from resources originally intended
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: for customs and border protections. Senators Patty Murray and Chris
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: Murphy objected and requested information from DHS. There's also been
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: criticism from Republicans, including public remarks questioning the use of
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: taxpayer money. The White House has defended the advertisements again. Surprise,
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: surprise as public service announcements.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: Now, hold on.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Because government communication is not inherently suspicious. The public actually
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: needs to know about official programs. Agencies tell people how
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: to apply for benefits when a disaster is approaching, how
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: the rule works, what deadline is coming up, and what
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: services are available. Public money can appropriately be used for
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: authorized public information. Now, in the spirit of keeping it real,
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: ladies and gentlemen, administrations have used official messages to explain
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: their initiatives. So merely seeing an officeholder in government advertising
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: doesn't by itself or on its face, answer the legal question.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: But now, the.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: Complication is the content and the purpose of this kind
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: of communication. AP describes spots with campaign-style elements emphasizing the
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: president personally. Critics say that raises questions under restrictions on
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: using appropriated funds for unauthorized propaganda or publicity. Now, ladies
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: and gentlemen of the jury, I know it's outrageous to
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: think about this president painting and coloring outside the lines.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: I know he has told the line when it comes
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: to standards and overreach and things along these lines. But
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: I need you to open your mind because although it's unexpected,
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: perhaps this president is overreaching or misusing. The White House
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: says these are government public service announcements. The issue is
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: not settled by whichever name the opposing camps put on
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: the product.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: The relevant facts.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: Include what the ad actually says and shows, which account
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: funded it and what Congress authorized that money for. and
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: how the governing restrictions apply. So allow me to bring
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: this to something that we can all recognize. Now, I
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: want you to suppose that the city sends out a
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: video reminding people when trash pickup change is very helpful.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: That's useful.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: Show us the truck, the date, maybe a smiling sanitation
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: worker because you got to make it look friendly and
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: let's just keep it pushing. But if the video starts
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: with six slow motion shots of the mayor walking toward
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: the camera, dramatic music swelling underneath and a narrative explaining
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: the mayor's historic greatness. I got a few follow up
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: questions about the trash schedule, because at that point, I'm
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: not sure if I should put the garbage out or
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: buy tickets to the premiere. I'm confused now. Now, of course,
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: the strongest defense deserves to be heard. A president's policy
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: message can be public-facing, and there isn't always a bright
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: artistic line separating a highly-produced public announcement from persuasive government communication.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: We shouldn't declare a legal violation on the basis of
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: a thumbnail or somebody's reaction to the music. At the
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: same time, though, appropriations are public money. Their authorized purpose
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: and the restrictions Congress attached to them are legitimate subjects
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: for oversight. And here's the thing about calling some a
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: quote unquote PSA. The label is a description offered by
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: the person presenting it. It's not a little legal air
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: freshener you spray on the commercial after editing. You still
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: have to look inside the container. Court finding, a government
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: advertisement should be examined thoroughly with its content, funding authority,
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: and applicable restrictions, not classified solely by how prominently an
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: official appears or by the label printed on the paperwork.
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: The oversight questions in this case are real, and a
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: final legal conclusion requires the controlling record.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: Next case.
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: Case 2. You ordered a congressional stock trading bill. Why
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: did voter identification arrive in the same package?
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: OK, now, Bailiff, he's asking all the key questions this morning.
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: This may be my favorite example of how Washington managed
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: to take an issue a lot of people understand and
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: build a procedural obstacle course all the way around it.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: Unnecessarily confusing folk. Senate Republicans have been promoting legislation to
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: prohibit members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks. Now, that's
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: an issue that has drawn public interest because members make
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: and oversee policy in an economy where they may also
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: hold private financial interests. But AP reported this week that
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: the proposal being advanced also contains voter identification requirements, provisions
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: Democrats have criticized as a poison pill. Senate leaders were
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: preparing procedural votes requiring 60 votes to advance. Notice that
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: there are two actual policy questions here. One involves the
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: financial conduct of public officials and the scope of any
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: restriction on trading. The other involves election administration, eligible voter access,
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: and identity verification. Each can be discussed seriously on its
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: own terms. Combining them in one legislative vehicle changes the
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: political decision facing members because a lawmaker who supports one
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: provision and opposes another may have to weigh the package
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: as a whole. Makes it more difficult once again. There's
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: a legitimate defense of packaging. Congress is a negotiating institution.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: Different proposals get combined to assemble sufficient support and legislators
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: may believe a deal can accomplish things no single bill
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: could pass independently.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: We get that.
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: You're not going to run a large legislative body successfully
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: if absolutely every idea must travel alone with its own lunchbox.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: The concern, though, is what happens when the added provision
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: becomes so controversial that the entire proposal's fate depends on
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: a disagreement that is not central to to its advertised purpose. Now,
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: of course, ladies and gentlemen, we always have an example
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: to help you visualize this thing better.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: Don't get frustrated with it.
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: This is what Jesus did when he was making the
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: case for all of these different things in the Bible.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: And so we've adopted a method that has been proven
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: to work. And so with that being said, I want
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: you to imagine ordering a new television online and it
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: arrives with a treadmill attached. You can call customer service
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: and say, excuse me, I ordered the television. And they say, yeah,
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: but we strongly believe in health and wellness. So the
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: treadmill is now part of the television experience. Now, I
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: can support fitness without wanting to do a mile before
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: I watch the damn game. Sometimes two perfectly debatable things
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: require two different conversations. Now, here's the useful test for listeners.
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: When lawmakers announce a bill, Find the exact actual text
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: or reliable section by section analysis. Look for what is
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: included beyond the headline. Identify which provisions do what, whether
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: they are separable and what procedural vote is taking place.
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: A vote to advance a combined measure is not necessarily
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: a clean referendum on any single provision contained in it.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: And so the court finding is this. evaluate the complete
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: legislative package. When unrelated subjects travel together, explain both the
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: negotiating argument and the trade-offs instead of pretending that the
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: title of the bill tells you everything inside. And that
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: brings us to a third case in which the problem
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: is not just what's inside an advertisement, it's whether the
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: scene happened at all.
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: Case three, the candidate on screen looks real. The event
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: on screen never happened.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: The Washington Post reported September 30th on the growing use
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: of AI generated and AI enhanced advertisements in this year's
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: midterm campaigns. One type of creative ad uses clearly fanciful
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: images to make a political joke. Another uses highly realistic
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: depictions of actual public figures in scenes they were never
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: filmed in. The technology has become inexpensive enough that campaigns
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: and outside groups can produce synthetic visuals that with a
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: level of detail that would once have required an expensive
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: production crew. Now, political satire is not new. We've all
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: seen the caricatures that have been around for centuries. We've
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: seen all the editorial cartoons putting a politician's head on
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: an animal, for example, or some kind of parody that
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: exaggerates a campaign message. And protected political expression includes a
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: lot of things that are clearly meant to provoke, entertain,
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: and criticize. It's actually one of the things that, pardon
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: the pun, makes America great.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: Because these are not emperors. These are not rulers. They
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: are allowed to be criticized.
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: When an image is obviously fanciful, the audience has a
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: fighting chance of understanding that it's an artistic argument and
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: not a news photograph, but a convincing scene involving a
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: recognizable person. Now, that raises a different kind of media
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: literacy issue. Now, if you see a candidate apparently making
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: a statement or performing an action, you ought to know
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: whether the clip records a real event uses edited real footage,
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: or was generated to dramatize somebody else's claim. The Post
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: reported that political advertisers have deployed both exaggerated material and
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: lifelike synthetic depictions, sometime including small AI disclosures. The existence
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: and visibility of those disclosures matter when evaluating how a
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: viewer may understand the message. You all remember that image
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: of Trump with black folks surrounding him? To give us
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: the impression that black folk were heavily supporting Trump and
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: then we found out? that it was artificially created, this
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: happens more than we know. And now it's being called
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: out time and time again. Now, there was a time
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: when a negative political ad used a grim photograph, a
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: deep voice narrator, and a black and white video of
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: somebody walking toward the Capitol. Now, a production team can
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: make the candidate ride a giraffe through your living room
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: while arguing with a talking tax bill. At least with
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: the giraffe, most people understand that they're watching a creative opinion.
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: It's when the fake video looks like a secret recording
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: from an actual event. That's when we need people to
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: slow down. Now here's the other side, ladies and gentlemen.
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: None of this means the public must treat every use
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: of AI in an ad as deception, because it's not.
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: The same tools can create a legitimate dramatization, translation, animation,
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: or disclosed parody. The specific representation is what matters here.
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: If it's supposed to be viewed as real evidence of
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: a person's behavior, then verification becomes central. You gotta check, check,
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: double check, triple check. Check the source of the clip.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: Look for the independent coverage of the purported event. Read disclosures.
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: And don't let an unfamiliar account with an urgent caption
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: become your personal election archive. That's a dead giveaway. And
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: so here's the court finding. A synthetic scene is constructed communication.
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: It may be satire, dramatization, or a misleading representation depending
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: on content and presentation. But the fact that an image
• 47:00
  Speaker 3: looks lifelike does not make it documentary evidence.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: Before forwarding as proof that.
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: Somebody did something, you gotta establish that the event actually happened.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: All rise.
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: This concludes Barbershop Court. You may now exit the courtroom
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: in an orderly fashion. But please make sure the candidate
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: in your group chat video exists outside somebody's laptop. Court
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: is adjourned.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: So goes another episode of Barbershop Court. We've reached the
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: show's climax and now where it all lands. Final commentary.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: Marcus, the floor is yours.
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: Ah, what to do, what to do. How do I
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: want to encapsulate this? I guess I want to go
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: back to the computer building for just a moment. There's
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: something extraordinary about living at a time when So much
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: of what we once considered difficult, expensive, or inaccessible can
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: now be done through a tool available on a phone.
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: I don't want us to become so concerned about change
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: that we stop recognizing possibilities. Advanced computing may become an
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: important part of medicine and research and entrepreneurship, accessibility, education,
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: and countless ordinary tasks. And the infrastructure to support those
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: uses has to exist somewhere. But this story is also
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: reminding me How often our conversations about the future eventually
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: become conversations about the here and the now, the present.
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: Because somebody needs land. Somebody needs permits. Somebody contracts for electricity.
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: A utility may need new equipment. Workers have to build
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: and maintain facilities. Public officials, they may be asked to
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: make decisions that can last longer than their own terms
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: in office. And residents like you and I may have
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: an interest in those decisions, even when the building is
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: described as part of a global industry. The White House
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: has made a public commitment to a principle of ratepayer protection,
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: with participating companies promising to pay for the additional power
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: and infrastructure associated with their own projects. Congress is considering
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: how federal legislation should address large energy users. States and
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: utility regulators have their own important responsibilities. Pennsylvania right here
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: has already established its grid requirements through state action. Those
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: things are related. but they're not interchangeable. The test of
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: any particular proposal lives in the details of the specific
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: agreements and the officials authorized to enforce them. And I
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: think that's the practical value of today's conversation. The next
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: time you hear that a data center is being considered
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: for a community that you care about, You don't have
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: to be the person who understands every technical drawing or
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: every line of a utility tariff, but you can ask
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: who is financially responsible for the additional infrastructure and whether
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: the rate agreement covers reduced demand or a canceled project
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: where residents can examine the proposal and what economic benefits
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: have been documented rather than merely projected. Those questions make
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: a conversation a whole lot more useful, regardless of whether
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: a listener begins with enthusiasm, concern or a mixture of both. Now,
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: I've said at the beginning that artificial intelligence is impressive
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: because of the things that it can do. But after
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: working through this episode, I think the more revealing question
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: is what we need to understand about everything supporting it.
• 50:22
  Speaker 3: The future may just arrive wearing a very modern face.
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: But when the utility bill shows up and that's the
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: thing we all care about, that's that kitchen table issue
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: that I'm talking about. The accounting is still very human.
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: I want to thank you for spending part of your
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: Thursday with me. I'm Marcus Atkinson. This has been The
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: Briefing Room. I want you to stay curious, examine the evidence,
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: and be willing to look past the headline long enough
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: to find out about.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: What the story actually says.
• 50:47
  Speaker 3: I'll see you next week, but before I get out
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: of here, you know I got to bring my man,
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: Buddy Love, a.k.a. George Morgan III, back into the building
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: so that he can unpack the theme song to this
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: prestigious show, The Briefing Room. Buddy Love, come on back
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: in and do your thing. I'll see you all next week.
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: Peace.
• 51:05
  Speaker 7: Today's edition of The Briefing Room with Marcus Atkinson has
• 51:09
  Speaker 7: been brought to you by G & M Getaways. When
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• 51:46
  Speaker 6: Another culture-shifting moment from Blackcess Media on 92.7 WICU HD2.
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  Speaker 1: Eerie, come sip the vibes. Cafe 710 and Blackcess Media
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: have teamed up to bring you the new Blackcess Vibe Smoothie,
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• 52:30
  Speaker 2: Mmm, so good and tasty.
• 52:34
  Speaker 8: Mmm, mmm.
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: Now we've just spent the last hour talking about the promises,
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: the power, and the price of technology. Seems only right
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: that we let the music take it from here. And
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: so with that in mind, here's Chris Brown with technology.
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: You are listening to Blackcess Media 92.7 FM. W-I-C-U-H-D-2.
• 52:55
  Speaker 7: Enjoy. If you ever wondering where I am Anchor to
• 53:02
  Speaker 7: my own wonderland These different time zones How do I
• 53:07
  Speaker 7: ever land by you? By you?
• 53:11
  Speaker 9: Yeah, all these days go by Feels like I'm counting
• 53:16
  Speaker 9: sand I want.
• 53:17
  Speaker 7: You around me To fill up this emptiness Yeah!
• 53:21
  Speaker 9: Write the story with a happy end With you, for
• 53:27
  Speaker 9: you I want you.
• 53:29
  Speaker 8: Close, closer baby Cause this long distance ain't working for
• 53:35
  Speaker 8: me Why do you have to be overseas? Cause this technology,
• 53:44
  Speaker 8: it don't do it for me.
• 54:01
  Speaker 9: Baby, you know I'm in love Your body, I got
• 54:05
  Speaker 9: the answers for me I've been drinkin' way too much
• 54:23
  Speaker 9: Time goes so slow in orbit around the sun Is
• 54:28
  Speaker 9: there any chance you could fly to me? Me, please
• 54:35
  Speaker 9: Don't hang up your cell phone Don't give up on
• 54:38
  Speaker 9: me I'm tryna make this FaceTime last I can like anytime,
• 54:42
  Speaker 9: anytime free Oh, I need you Here with me, yeah,
• 54:47
  Speaker 9: to write this song about you.
• 54:51
  Speaker 8: I want you close, close up, baby. Because this long
• 54:56
  Speaker 8: distance ain't working for me.
• 54:59
  Speaker 7: Why do you have to be overseas?
• 55:02
  Speaker 8: Because this technology, you know it, it don't do.
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: It for me.
• 55:25
  Speaker 9: I need all your love.
• 55:26
  Speaker 7: Sundown is enough for me.
• 55:52
  Speaker 9: Hey buddy, I got the answers Why you teasing me
• 55:54
  Speaker 9: all the time?