AI and the Energy Transition: Implications for U.S. Economic Growth and Inequality

The AI boom and energy transition are jointly shaping the next phase of U.S. economic growth. Whether this moment delivers equitable economic growth and shared prosperity or exacerbates inequality and affordability pressures depends on how policy aligns AI-driven demand with clean energy deployment, grid investment, and labor outcomes. AI expansion and the energy transition draw on overlapping infrastructure, supply chains, and fiscal and state capacity. It is essential that policymakers understand whether and how the energy transition may act as a mediator through which AI-driven growth will affect households, workers, firms, and regional economies.

Equitable Growth hosted a presentation by Costa Samaras, director of the Carnegie Mellon University Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and a trustee professor of civil and environmental engineering. His remarks and a subsequent panel discussion examined the interconnected risks and opportunities of AI expansion and the energy transition, as well as the policy levers needed to ensure growth creates shared prosperity. The conversation answered questions on how the AI boom interacts with the economic risks of climate change and regional development. It explored whether the policy toolkit can adequately protect U.S. households, workers, and firms from distributional inequities and what new tools must be built to align AI-driven growth with equitable economic outcomes.  

This event was the latest installment of “Equitable Growth Presents: Evidence for a Stronger Economy,” a lecture series that seeks to foster a deeper understanding of cutting-edge research and analysis on economic inequality and growth. These lectures bring together leading scholars to explore how new research is shifting important conversations in academia and economic policy.

Participants

Lily Roberts, vice president for policy and programs at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Costa Samaras, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and the trustee professor of civil and environmental engineering

Heather Boushey, professor of practice at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Neil Thompson, principal research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jigar Shah, co-Managing Partner at Multiplier 

Watch video of the event:

View the slides: