AI development should be constrained by mandatory energy consumption limits to mitigate environmental harm.

Mandatory energy constraints on AI development would be environmentally counterproductive and economically self-defeating. Such regulations would stifle innovation in AI systems that are essential for optimizing renewable grids, accelerating materials science for batteries, and modeling climate solutions—potentially forfeiting AI's net-positive environmental impact. Unilateral constraints would simply offshore development to jurisdictions with laxer standards (carbon leakage), reducing global emissions not at all while ceding technological leadership. Furthermore, energy consumption is an input, not an output; the appropriate target is carbon intensity, not usage. Market-driven efficiency gains and investment in clean energy infrastructure for data centers offer superior solutions to arbitrary caps that risk freezing AI capabilities at suboptimal levels when we need them most.