US Needs More Electricity to Win AI Race, Says Trump Energy Czar

The US risks forfeiting a global competition to dominate artificial intelligence if it doesn’t build more reliable, always-on electricity to supply the industry, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department warned Thursday.

Doug Burgum, the former North Dakota governor who has also been tapped to help chart Trump’s energy policy, cast the issue as critical to America’s national security during a Senate confirmation hearing that offered a preview of the incoming administration’s planned embrace of fossil fuels.

Where renewable power supplies are intermittent and “unreliable,” Burgum said, AI’s growing energy demands will require more of the ...