Chris Koopman and Kevin Frazier: The problem with pausing data centers

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act on March 25, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. The proposed federal bill seeks to pause data center construction across the U.S., which the lawmakers argue is necessary due to the rapid pace and perceived risks associated with advanced AI development. However, Chris Koopman, CEO of the Abundance Institute, and Kevin Frazier, a senior fellow with the Abundance Institute and head of the AI Innovation and Law Program at the University of Texas School of Law, penned an opinion piece criticizing the proposed moratorium. They argue that pausing data centers effectively means pausing AI development, as computing infrastructure is foundational to AI. They contend that such a policy would ration progress through politics and misrepresents how technological advancements and governance evolve. Koopman and Frazier draw parallels to a previous call for a six-month pause on AI system training (more powerful than GPT-4) three years prior, which they note did not materialize. They point out that despite predictions of catastrophe if development continued, progress was made on models like GPT-4o, GPT-5, Grok, Gemini, Claude, Llama, and Mistral, with global AI investment projected to exceed half a trillion dollars in 2026. They emphasize that safety and understanding improve through deployment and iterative development, not through freezes. The authors conclude that the underlying logic for a moratorium on data centers is similar to the failed calls for an AI pause and that such interventions have proven to be misguided. They suggest that the proposed policy lacks a feasible governance framework and risks hindering beneficial technological advancements.