Anthropic wants to prevent Americans from having to pay more due to the energy consumption of generative AI and is therefore covering those costs itself.
AI company Anthropic says it will fully compensate for any increases in consumer energy bills caused by its data centers. In doing so, it aims to ensure that households do not suffer the consequences of the AI sector’s growth.
Costs not passed on to citizens
“The costs of running our models should not fall on ordinary Americans,” says Dario Amodei. Anthropic therefore intends to pay extra for power to fully compensate for grid upgrades, such as new transformers and connections.
In addition to financial compensation, Anthropic is researching systems to reduce power consumption during peak times. The company is also focusing on more efficient cooling, such as liquid cooling, to limit energy consumption per rack. These are meaningful steps, though they only apply to its own data centers.
Pressure on electricity prices
Anthropic’s own facilities make up only a small part of the rapidly growing US data center sector. More and more studies show that large-scale “bit barns” do indeed put regional pressure on electricity prices. For European customers, Anthropic rents significant capacity from partners like Google and Microsoft, and the promise does not currently apply to rented capacity.
Anthropic emphasizes that individual initiatives alone are not enough. The company is calling for federal measures to speed up permitting, simplify grid expansion, and connect new energy sources faster. That message seems to be resonating: other tech giants, including Microsoft, have also stated that their data centers should not lead to higher energy bills for consumers.