The North Carolina Blockchain + AI Initiative (NCB+AI) launched on Thursday and will be a collective voice for the industries as they work to pass pro-cryptocurrency legislation and support construction of data centers.
Forest, now a lobbyist, is a Republican who served two terms as lieutenant governor and ran for governor in 2020, losing to Democratic incumbent Roy Cooper. He serves as the group’s founder and state advocate, and told The News & Observer on Thursday that the goal is for North Carolina to be at the forefront of innovation in the field.
“We want to be kind of this catalyst, if you will, this group that can pull together all of the great minds across North Carolina’s private and public sector,” he said.
Blockchain is a digital ledger, or permanent record, that is stored in multiple places to create more security that works to prevent fraud and other malicious activity, Forest explained.
Around seven years ago, a previous version of a blockchain initiative was meant to educate North Carolina’s General Assembly and executive branch. The initiative did not include AI at the time.
Forest said the industry has changed since then.
“Now, states can look at how they might, very safely and securely, start to add crypto to their balance sheets,” he said.
Legislation passed the state House and Senate last year to allow state government to invest retirement funds and other money in digital assets like cryptocurrency, but in different forms — and so far has not become law.
Data centers are essential to the infrastructure needs of blockchain mining and AI use. Constructing data centers is controversial throughout the nation, including in North Carolina, because of concerns about energy and water use, as well as air and noise pollution.
Earlier this month, Maryland-based developer Natelli Investments announced it would halt plans to build a 300-megawatt data center near Apex.
Michelle Hoffner O’Connor is a co-leader of the Protect Wake County Coalition, which publicly opposed the Natelli plan and advocated against the data center since last summer.
She said the lack of data center regulation, combined with strains on electricity and water, has resulted in bipartisan pushback.
“The legislature is going to really have to weigh how many eggs they are going to put in that AI, blockchain pro-everything basket when layers of government around the country are already realizing that we’ve screwed this up, and we’re going to continue screwing this up without putting some real rules in place and putting a pause on the rapid progress that has been ... unchecked for a while,” she said.
POLICY AGENDA
NCB+AI will focus its policy agenda on “responsible” AI and cryptocurrency regulation, and creating workforce pipelines through the Triangle’s research universities, according to its website.
Forest said the organization should be a partner for the state legislature to “bring professional voices to the table to get them the knowledge that they need to make informed policy decisions.”
He said he wants North Carolina to be a nationwide leader for the blockchain and AI industries.
“We want to be at the forefront of the innovation and the forefront of the spending of these technologies that are really going to change how the world operates going forward,” he said.
Forest compared a typical fear of the rise of AI — that everyone will lose their jobs to the new tech — to similar fears when computers and manufacturing technologies were improving.
“We want to make sure that we are getting multiple perspectives out there and making sure that people understand the truth, kind of alleviating a lot of the fear that always surrounds something new, especially things like the financial or currency system, things like AI,” he said.
Dan Spuller, chairman of the board for NCB+AI, is also the executive vice president of the Blockchain Association — another membership group serving as a representative voice on behalf of cryptocurrency stakeholders.
He said the development and advancement of AI and similar tools is not going to slow down.
“It’s quite the opposite,” he said. “In not too distant futures, in general, [processing] usage is going to be one of the largest, if not the largest, power consumer in the world.”
Since 2016, Spuller said, states have supported legislation that was friendly to cryptocurrency, including North Carolina’s Money Transmitters Act that requires businesses be licensed to transmit virtual currency.
Spuller added that the organization wants to fight misinformation and be a voice for industry experts to be able to educate the public.
“It’s an area that needs to be taken seriously,” he said. “... We want our state to know that the doors are open for business. And it’s really one of those things that’s inevitable.”
DATA CENTER EXPAND
He said Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies require large amounts of power.
Spuller said data centers are being built in some communities that “have been left behind” and have been able to grow tax bases.
Hoffner O’Connor said despite the potential inevitability of data centers, it “doesn’t give you any right to be irresponsible about how you go about doing something.”
She said developers often go for cheap and quick options.
“If you’re serious about the industry that you’re in, and you really think it’s all that, then put up or shut up,” she said. “And by that I mean offer the best, and I really mean the best available technologies.”
Hoffner O’Connor, who holds a Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology, said there are testimonies from people living near data centers that speak to negative health effects of noise and air pollution.
“I don’t see how someone who’s in the field can look you in the eye and say, ‘You’re just scared of it. You don’t understand it,’” she said. “No, I’m a well-informed human being who has openly said I’m open to learning more.”
Hoffner O’Connor added that anti-data center movements have momentum across the country and are typically bipartisan.
She said the industry needs to reckon with how AI’s progress affects consumers, and subsequently affects how they vote.
NCB+AI is inviting investors, energy companies, financial institutions, universities and others to be members of the organization and plans to hold summits and workgroups across the state.
The organization said it will support a state bill, the Digital Assets Investments Act, which passed the state House and is still pending.
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