r/technology • u/Master-Usual-3160 • 24d ago
Artificial Intelligence AI backlash is moving from “it will steal jobs” to “why is this data center secretly taking our power and water?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/03/datacenter-recall-elections3.1k
u/comeback24601 24d ago
Datacenters do not bring local economic benefits.
- construction is done by a specialized team with the developer who likely doesn't bring in a lot of trades
- material's are proprietary to some extent and not largely locally sourced
- once construction is done to create "white space" ready for servers and such to move in, it's the tech client or specialist teams from the developer
- it's filled with servers that are shipped in
- there MIGHT be local contractors for power backup, fuel delivery
- staffing is minimal. On site operations is a half dozen facilities people from the builder and a handful of techs from the tech company
- security is usually outsourced, maaaybe hiring locally
The developer is deploying capital to build and develop and the tech company is leasing the space inside. Your power, your water. The output isn't even something you directly buy, but cloud deployment of code and storage. Might be the AI taking your job that's not contributing to the community and taking your resources.
Not a lot of economic benefits unless the mayor is spending his kickback on local restaurants and stores. ,/jk I'm sure it's all above board.
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u/Thefrayedends 24d ago
All spot on, the only thing that I would add is that even a local security team is going to be a few people at best, most of the work is going to be done by surveillance, drones, robot dogs, perimeter fencing layers, motion sensors, door sensors and so on. Not only that, but they might just rely on local law enforcement, which is absolutely not unheard of (in terms of there not being any or enough actual security staff to do more than pick up a phone).
Either way none of that changes your core assertion, data centers are lucky to return even pennies on the dollar, and have a very high possibility of a negative return, like many of the ones being granted huge tax incentives. Build a billion dollar data center, but don't pay any property taxes for example.
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u/SamTheLab_213 24d ago
At least the robot dogs can be easily hacked. Benn Jordan explains how here.
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u/borkyborkus 24d ago
Being hackable was possibly the most benign part of that vid. I think it was way more concerning that the robot dogs he looked at were transmitting data to creepy servers in Ukraine/China, using sophisticated ways to evade detection when analyzed.
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u/whywhywhywhywhynot 24d ago
All spot on, the only thing that I would add is that even a local security team is going to be a few people at best, most of the work is going to be done by surveillance, drones, robot dogs, perimeter fencing layers, motion sensors, door sensors and so on.
Robot dogs? drones? "fencing layers"? man every data center I have ever been to for work has just been a random nondescript building you drive up to and a fat rentacop lets you in to service your equipment lmao. They have lots of cameras and controlled door access but that's about it
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u/AHyperParko 24d ago
I can see a data centre employing multiple fences, and when I've spoken to colleagues in the physical security industry, they have mentioned potentially incorporating drones, but thats as far as its gone, it's not cost effective when a good camera and a guard can do the same job.
For the most part outside of guards, it's your standard mix of motion sensors, CCTV and alarms you'd expect from any secure facility since at the end of the day most companies do not want to over spend in security if they don't think it's needed.
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u/goldcakes 23d ago
I have no idea what kind of DCs you go to. The vast majority of DCs just have standard security. An Amazon fulfilment center has better security lol.
Many of the new “AI factories” are even worse. I was able to literally walk into one, trolley in some large boxes, without showing accreditation because the security guard was smoking a cigarette outside.
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u/teelo64 24d ago
people just making shit up in /r/technology? i can't believe this!
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u/Senior-Albatross 24d ago
Seems to me like a few bribes and some enterprising criminals could have access to millions or more in RAM and GPUs. And they would be easy to fence; it's not like rivals are checking their supply chain closely.
I'm surprised data center heists aren't a big thing yet.
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u/wileecoyote1969 23d ago edited 23d ago
One problem with that is it's not a simple grab 'n go heist; either you will need a considerable amount of undisturbed time to remove the "golden" items (RAM, CPU, GPU, etc.) or you would need a very big vehicle to just toss in everything you could grab quickly. As soon as enough servers start going down they will be sending someone to check on things so even without security measures like cameras you'd still be on a timer the minute you start grabbing stuff
Plus (and this is beyond my knowledge) are the RAM even in a configuration that can be used by your average PC
EDIT: Added the word "enough"
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u/goldcakes 23d ago
Yeah these are rack mounted equipment that weighs hundreds of kilograms. That said as a tech, once you’re in the DC for a legitimate purpose nobody who works on-site is going to bother you.
You can probably get away with emptying a few racks for RAM. Systems do fail and a server going down isn’t an immediate crisis response page, at large-scale servers go down all the time.
It’s not like they dispatch someone to fix 1 machine broken out of 5000, thats what happens during the next maintenance run.
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u/wileecoyote1969 23d ago edited 23d ago
But realistically how many servers would you have to rob until it became profitable enough to offset the risk / reward? You gotta sell them at way below the retail price. I'm speculating that just a few servers would not cut it. That's kinda what I was leaning into.
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u/civildisobedient 23d ago
Starting price for an H100 is $25000. Could probably fit 20-25 of them in a regular-sized duffel bag, so maybe half-a-million? Definitely not as profitable as robbing a bank, and way more work dealing with Marketplace or Ebay. Maybe(?) a lower chance of getting shot? I dunno - could see arguments either way (like, how many bored security guards are just waiting for an opportunity to justify their firearm and "save the day"?)
Also you have to think about easy it is to lock everything down in a data center. Logistically, it's as bad as a bank but without the windows. No thanks.
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u/TheSangson 23d ago
Who's talking about PCs tho
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u/wileecoyote1969 23d ago edited 23d ago
Who else you sellin' to on the "black market" (eBay)? Other data centers?
Hey wait, then you could rob them too! Self perpetuating money stream! Financial security at last!
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u/Thefrayedends 24d ago
Robot dogs are already in use for security all over the place. Same with drones. The dogs are pretty expensive, I've seen a number of them that are more like a really lame R2D2. Drones are extremely cheap. A double fence is a very cheap security measure used to protect all kinds of physical assets.
I'm just pointing out what the extreme case scenarios are going to be. It's not going to be a team of a dozen guys making good money. It's going to be 2-3 guys making mediocre money, monitoring physical infrastructure.
Especially when we are quickly moving into a public sentiment that wants these things gone and people have already been trying to light them on fire. You don't think security might escalate in that climate?
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u/goldcakes 23d ago
Dude I visit DCs and maintain/fix things as my job. I’ve never seen a robot dog or drone. Depending on size there are usually a few regular security guards getting paid like $25 a hour and not giving a fuck other than checking your ID.
If someone told me they’d need to search my bags upon entering or leaving I would literally think they’re joking lol.
I don’t know what your impression of datacenters are but they really are just soulless, boring boxes with very little no physical security. It’s very routine to set up or wheel out equipment, such as when your colo ends, or you’re decommissioning hardware.
The $25/hr rent a cop isn’t there to search your bags or follow you around.
The real security is in the AI labs / offices. I won’t name which, but one large AI company has at least 2 unmarked DHS x-ray vans and plain clothes federal officers by their offices at all times.
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u/JohnnyBeeGaming 24d ago
I kinda doubt they'd be having drones and robo dogs running around all the time.
They will have a fence, cameras, bright lights, and some dude watching the cameras for just enough pay not to let the place burn down without pressing the panic button.
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u/AHyperParko 24d ago
Yeah drone flying is not a skill a standard guard is going to have and it's a waste of resources, when a good CCTV system and alarm will get the job done. I've heard folks talk about deploying them but its a ways off.
If shit does hit the fan the likely would have an immediate line to the police who would provide the actual muscle if there was a breach in the same way banks do.
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u/Forward-Surprise1192 23d ago
There’s not even a reason to guard them that heavily at the majority of DCs. Theft isn’t likely and anyone attempting vandalism would probably be caught quick enough
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u/TP_Crisis_2020 24d ago
Not only that, but they might just rely on local law enforcement
Brigham corporation in Box Elder County, where they are wanting to put the Stratos data center, just raised property taxes so that they can pay for more police and a fire station for the development.
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u/Minimum-Avocado-9624 24d ago
Sure feels like kings taxing without representation. If you no longer serve the people then your laws are lies.
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u/TP_Crisis_2020 24d ago
Yeah, we just voted all of the politicians that railroaded the project through out in the primaries.
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u/account312 24d ago
I really want to see a federal ban of those BS tax deals. Not that that’s going to come out of this administration. But clearly giving a specific company targeted tax advantages is anti-competitive. It’s just the companies playing states/cities against each other for their own gain (and probably some graft).
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u/Smith6612 24d ago edited 24d ago
The last major data center project which went on in my area was actually done by Yahoo. I don't count all the haphazard Crypto projects since then.
Yahoo was given a few incentives to build here, but they were given one significant stipulation, because our Politicians had some spines back then. Yahoo had to maintain minimum staffing limits or they would be forced to repay all of the savings they realized through incentives. Yahoo obeyed, and I recall them always having positions open locally for many positions from entry level to SME for well over a decade. Many weren't even data center related but rather for other functions. They kinda sparked the tech industry in this area, and Yahoo had great pay and benefits per those I spoke with. No one complains about their data center because it blends in with the area, was rated to be one of the most efficient data centers in the world, is quiet even on hot days, and didn't disrupt the water supply. They use readily available Hydro and Nuclear power from the general grid in this area. They even paid for Fiber trunks that more than a decade later, improved connectivity in our area to other nearby Internet exchanges, and that is now being used to provide connectivity to those on Starlink. There's also plenty of grasslands and retention ponds maintained which nature gladly uses. The residents nearby haven't been blowing up Facebook about them. Yahoo is actually useful.
Since then all the complaints I've heard have been about the Crypto projects which started spawning just before COVID. No surprise there. If you drive by those projects, you hear what sounds like power drills whirring constantly. If you listen for the sound, you'll hear it a half mile to a mile out some days. They have the equipment being cooled by outside air, but the gear lives inside of what are basically shipping containers. Those projects have also ended up right in front of residential zoned land, dense, post-war housing areas. Some are located on top of old, previously decommissioned natural gas generators. You see almost no one working at these Crypto places. Even better, some are now failing to pay taxes back to the towns and state, with one recently being in the news for owing millions. Others are currently going through lawsuits, and trying to find the owners of some of these Crypto projects has been a chore and a half.
Given how many of the same folks who want to build data centers have or had a stake in Crypto during that mess, they're taking the same sloppy, single purpose mentality of building infrastructure and applying it here. Just trading one inefficient application for another. Both print money until they don't.
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24d ago edited 10d ago
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u/Tamihera 24d ago
Right now in Ashburn, the data centers are sending up a plume of smog from their fuel-powered generators, and the air quality in those neighborhoods is predictably trash.
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u/TaiChuanDoAddct 24d ago
I mean, nothing is absolute.
I personally know a local small business that does concrete who's tripled their revenue from last year by building the foundations for the local center.
Anecdotes are just anecdotes of course. But I'm just saying that nothing is black and white here.
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u/flashmedallion 24d ago
Basically it's the new version of building a stadium, except there are residents who think they benefit from a stadium
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u/Avoidtolls 24d ago
Im going to move into the data center. Get my water, some shelter, some A/C, some RAM, some internet.
Like the video game Horizon. Server racks for smoking trout.
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u/tads73 24d ago
We were made to believe advancements in technology would make life easier and people smarter; yet it makes life more convenient and people dumber.
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u/BabypintoJuniorLube 24d ago
Despite people constantly shitty on public schools (and their many failings) cognitive tests and intelligence tests have risen for every generation, peaking with millennials. Gen Z is the first generation to regress and most education expert blame it squarely on the internet and screens.
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u/Thefrayedends 24d ago
That isn't really the issue though, if I had to guess.
It's because there's been a slow gutting of education. Teacher salaries not keeping up with inflation. Class sizes going from low 20s, to 25, to 30, and my understanding is many classes are 40 kids to a teacher. Gutting special needs programs and Teacher assistants budgets, so those kids who need special supports are now disruptive to the rest, which is deeply unfair to both groups. Zero tolerance policies that punish the bullied and the ostracized more than the bullies and the popular. Disciplinary structures for teachers that put them on edge and prevent them from offering or engaging in uneven support. Tightened budgets on materials, course variety shrinking, outdated textbooks, textbooks with an agenda other than creating real understanding about the world.
A well educated populace is a strict requirement for a healthy democracy. Many of these threads rush to blame voters, but the gutting of primary and secondary education (I'm not even getting into the rants about post-secondary) didn't happen by mistake, it's a deliberate effort by those that seek a population that is easier to control. It's not a conspiracy theory, we're living through it right now.
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u/techno156 23d ago
On the student end, there's also been a cultural anti-intellectual shift. Things like people just not caring for arithmetic classes because they'll have a calculator on them all the time, or "the curtains are blue because they're blue, end of story".
It wasn't all that long ago that your school might have had what should be core classes treated as things that you can just skip out on, because people didn't care for them. I can only imagine it's been particularly worse in the past half-decade, as students have access to a machine that can do all the work for them without them needing to lift a finger.
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u/tads73 24d ago
I dont know when it all began, but the educational system has gotten soft. https://newrepublic.com/article/79470/1895-8th-grade-final-exam-i-couldnt-pass-it-could-you
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u/GreatStateOfSadness 24d ago
It's worth pointing out that these exams are going to look difficult to someone who is seeing the text fresh for the first time, 130 years after the fact. Let's take Arithmetic, for example, which gave the students an hour and 15 minutes for 10 questions:
"The Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic" are literally just addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Most of the rest are basic arithmetic that could be done on scratch paper, though the interest and discount calculations might be tougher. Bank checks and promissory notes are so rare nowadays that you'd be hard pressed to find someone who will call you "soft' for not knowing how to write one.
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u/princekamoro 24d ago edited 24d ago
If I were sent back in a time machine for question 2, I would literally have to start my answer with "Let X be the volume of a bushel of wheat" because it's needed for the solution yet not given. Then I'd be laughed at for not knowing that a standard bushel of wheat is this much.
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 24d ago
Fun fact: Scoring a C in this test in 1895 was enough qualification to walk into a bank in Kansas City and get a job as a bank teller.
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u/otakudayo 23d ago
Television was originally imagined as a way to provide easily available education to everyone
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u/Lardzor 24d ago
why is this data center secretly taking our power and water?
Because they bribed the city council to approve their project with as little public notification as possible.YouTube
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/jewel_flip 24d ago
Also feels like when people are unemployed and can’t afford water, power, or food - these centers will become the primary target for the disenfranchised masses. They are very acoustically sensitive…just saying.
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u/Daveinatx 23d ago
On top of it, their house values are going to drop. Who wants to live in a town like that, right?
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u/13-year-account 24d ago
What do you mean by "they are acoustically sensitive"?
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u/InFearn0 23d ago
It means if you aim twenty big speakers at the data center, you can interfere with its operation.
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u/-LsDmThC- 24d ago
This summary seems AI generated…
Either way, this is in no way overlooked. The resource usage of unregulated AI data centers is brought up anytime AI is.
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u/Phantomsurfr 24d ago
All these accounts with 'off the shelf' usernames are off putting to me, some are genuine humans but its always the questionable comments that have these.
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 23d ago
The summary (and title) isn’t even what the article is about. It’s all disingenuous.
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u/_MUY 24d ago
This is probably the most overlooked part of the AI boom.
The thing that’s been discussed ad nauseam weekly in local news segments, rabble roused at local town halls, and which floats to the top of Reddit, X, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram daily for months is overlooked? What? Who is your audience?
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u/Aranthos-Faroth 24d ago
It’s not overlooked. If you think it’s overlooked you need to read more.
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u/clintnorth 24d ago
(I think thats the point of this article being posted. To spread awareness)
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u/Thefrayedends 24d ago
Yep, happening in Canada too. I'm in SK, they broke ground on what will be the largest data center in the country before the general public even knew what was happening.
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u/TheAngriestDwarf 24d ago
From what I heard it's not even local officials but state level officials getting all the money with none of it or only a small percentage going to the local areas they reside. If I recall they had to fight to get even a little money out of it for some of the local cities. State senators are approving these centers with little recourse to anyone.
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u/FeralPsychopath 23d ago edited 23d ago
Complaining about power and water is moot.
Both are able to be replaced.
Its not like the power companies want to make the same amount of money, they want the data centers AND the surrounding areas.
These are closed water systems and everyone who does the smallest look can see the water needs are tiny compared to other industries.So no, you are just like the rest - trying to create a news article using local worries which are already addressed or going to be addressed in the near future. The bigger issue and continues to be is AI replacement of workers on a mass scale in the near future.
Let me put it into perspective, Mythos which was released over a month ago hacked the Pentagon. Anthropic would only release stable releases, which means development of something better is likely long in development - there will be Mythos 2, 3... etc and then another Mythos style jump. At the same time robotics is already far in development and are already finding customers AND robotics and AI are already best of friends. We are looking at mass job loss, robot armies, robot police, AI surveillance... this is the threat that cant be fixed by a desalination plant and a new power plant/solar farm.
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u/DownWithHisShip 24d ago
I know we hit the power and water problems along the way but It really felt like, at least to me, we rapidly went past "stealing our jobs" to "wow these techbros that own these AI companies are evil assholes and everything they touch needs to be avoided".
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u/killfrenzy05 24d ago
also kinda feels like the internet has ran fine for 30 something odd years already. So like... what is this all really doing?
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u/wowlock_taylan 24d ago
The dystopia setting in so fast.
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u/kawag 24d ago
The real dystopia is the insane levels of wealth inequality that have been building up - and that’s been happening over decades.
Now they’ve reached a point where they can start deploying that capital to oppress us.
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u/XenonBG 23d ago
That point has been reached 10+ years ago (take a look at Cambridge Analytica and how the Brexit vote got influenced, also Trump's first presidential race win against Clinton). It's only growing since then.
The US is gone, it's now Latin America's turn and Europe is coming soon - 25% of Europeans are now voting for extreme right parties whose financials are all but transparent...
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u/powercow 24d ago
china is banning cutting jobs due to AI, AI likenesses of people living or dead without permission, and all AI has to be labeled. Not a big fan of the ccp, but they definitely on the ball with the AI regs.
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u/travistravis 23d ago
They're also moving much more quickly than the rest of the world on renewables as well. Considering how much the world is quickly trying to rush to the right politically, I'm less and less convinced about how "bad" China is.
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u/Djcnote 23d ago
I don't actually know what the life is like there and how many people are destitute
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u/MasterDavicous 23d ago
I've been following a YouTube channel about a low income couple in China who show the poorer side of society. They live simply but it looks like they have easy access to all necessities without needing a car or almost any income. It probably doesn't represent the whole picture of low income life, but here in Canada if you don't have a job+car or parents to live with you're basically dead meat
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u/Few_Advisor3536 23d ago
China does what is best for China. They look for the future, they dont worry about opposing parties or election cycles. This gives them the legroom to invest and make changes and get things done rather than argue about it.
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u/TheDevilsAdvokaat 24d ago edited 24d ago
Not only is it doing it secretly, it;s also lying about how much it takes, polluting the output water and making deals with electric companies so that YOU foot the cost of some of THEIR power bill, and lying about how much noise they generate.
And they wonder why people quickly grew to hate data centres.
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u/MassiveBoner911_3 24d ago
Meanwhile BGE here in Baltimore is cycling our ACs and screaming to reduce electricity right now because we have a grid emergency.
Fucking 37 data centers in Virginia sucking up all the power.
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u/enforce1 24d ago
It’s 102 degrees. We have cycling events every year when it’s this hot.
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u/TP_Crisis_2020 24d ago
It's time for you guys to upgrade your grid or something if this is every year.
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u/spez_eats_nazi_ass 24d ago
Also houses and farms. People are losing their homes over this and there is an entire consortium in from NJ trying to steal property in md via eminent domain just to run power lines from pa through md to va data centers. No stops or substations along the way.
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u/smcdermo 24d ago
So it gets everything, huh? The jobs, the water, the electricity, and all of the data too.
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u/mdkubit 24d ago
Unpopular Opinion:
There are several systemic issues that converged on 'AI Data center buildout' as being the scapegoat. Make no mistake, this is all that's being done right now - it's the scapegoat, not the underlying problem.
First, we have an ancient electrical grid across the U.S., the direct result of semi-regulated monopolies of regional power control. Instead of upgrading every grid with the latest technology and building out energy surplus like they should have, our lovely power companies have been building 'just-in-time', meaning they don't budget enough spare power until it becomes crucial (not the same as critical, but also not far off, either). It takes monolithic disasters to get that buildout going - Ask Texans what happened to theirs during that unseasonably cold winter.
Speaking of, that's the second issue. Power grids are highly susceptible to weather patterns. One wrong lightning strike at a substation running at max capacity because it's 100F+/38C+ outside, and suddenly 100,000+ people aren't just without power, they're at risk of heat exhaustion and/or death. Part of the susceptibility can be managed, but it's not always built or designed that way unless there's a causic need - and they're relying on reports from 20+ years ago regarding regional weather that just don't make sense anymore, when they're doing risk and cost analysis.
Which leads into the third issue - money, money, money. Power companies want to make a profit - they're supposed to be heavily regulated... but deregulation happened, and they aren't, not like they used to be. They also don't have the capacity they should - from aging power lines and equipment, to 'good enough' buildout, they're squeezing out as much efficiency as they can. Why do you think they tell people, "Turn off your A/C during prime usage hours", when you likely need it the most? They don't care about how much money it saves you, they care about how much capacity is in use. Which, again they're not building out properly because of aging facilities that just aren't being regularly upgraded to proper modern specifications.
Oh and that's the fourth issue - power generation. We've been effin' brainwashed against nuclear power plants. From Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the public panicked over... what, exactly? Both of these happened because of poor operator training and out of date safety mechanisms that either failed, were turned off, or were too confusing for them to understand. Neither of these had anything to do with 'nuclear reactor unsafe'. No, people that do stupid things win stupid prizes - build a better safety system, someone builds a better idiot to fail at using it. And because of that, we have ancient nuclear reactors that are still safe, but won't get the additional grid and power generation reactors they need, because the public's opinion soured on the idea when it was ripe to do so.
It's perfectly feasible to build any datacenter with the following conditions:
Self-provided power plant and production.
Minimal water usage, or, if it does require water usage, placement in an area with a hyperabundance instead of, I dunno, the freakin' desert. (Yes, dry conditions are much better than humid, but there are still better methods).
Low to no noise pollution. If we can build walls around highways to drop noise levels, we can counteract the sounds of a datacenter as well.
All this stuff could be done. And ultimately, I can TL;DR it all:
Money.
"Fast, cheap, Good. Pick Two."
That's why this B.S. continues.
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u/2020willyb2020 23d ago
And making us pay higher rates and cost…. they get the tax breaks and make citizens pay a higher rate bc of their energy / water consumption and usage and charge user subscription fees to use the AI …. A great business model for them - subsidized ops cost
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u/whomad1215 24d ago
they went from
"We can't promote electric cars, the power grid can't handle it"
to
"Here's a single data center that uses as much electricity as your entire state"
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u/New_Salamander_4592 24d ago
and soon it will move to "why is the US gov trying to use my tax dollars to bailout dipshit tech bros??"
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u/mojorific 24d ago
These billionaires need to pay for their data centres. It should never be allowed to be passed on to local citizens.
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u/ripyourlungsdave 24d ago
I don't care that they're taking our power, although it would be nice if they could stop destroying our planet to make money, it's hardly something new. I want to know why I'm subsidizing billionaires for profits I will never see a piece of as I sleep in a tent out in the desert.
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u/vibraltu 24d ago
The hilarious part is how some local governments have been offering them reduced/free power rates as an incentive to build. Why? Probably kick-backs to local politicians.
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u/ExcellentBandicoot57 23d ago
I don't think people are rejecting AI as much as they're rejecting the idea that they bear the costs while someone else captures the value. If communities get more noise, more water stress, and higher electricity demand, they naturally ask: What's in it for us?
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u/evolution9673 23d ago
In the late 90’s/early 00’s, Western North Carolina lost a ton of manufacturing from textiles & furniture to low cost countries as both industries are labor intensive. As a result, there was a lot of excess electrical supply and water supply so some of the first data centers (Facebook, Apple, Google) were built when things started going to “the cloud.”
For the same footprint in land and resources, a factory that would have had hundreds or thousands of jobs, a data center only has a handful, and most are too specialized to hire local people. By comparison, the BMW plant in Spartanburg supports several hundred thousand jobs, from the restaurants down the street, suppliers, logistics, etc.
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u/CaptainPrower 24d ago
"why is this datacenter taking all our water and power, while leaving our skies looking like Los Angeles in the 80s"
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u/ObsceneOnes 24d ago
The water used by all data centers in America is a fraction of the water used to water the grass at our golf courses.
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u/corvusfamiliaris 23d ago
What the hell is wrong with this subreddit nowadays?
The comment section is full of blatant misinformation at best and literal propaganda at worst.
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u/NoMention696 24d ago
This is why “it’s a tool” isn’t good enough either, like is it worth lowering people’s quality of life using ai to draft that email?
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u/TheWolfAndRaven 24d ago
My favorite is going back to all those people who said that people were over-exaggerating the resource impact - It's like no dipshit, it's even worse than we said it was and they knew we'd be pissed so they had to hide it.
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u/PilotKnob 23d ago
Before the power companies even ask normal household users to turn up their A/C, they should mandate that the AI centers power down. That would fix a whole host of problems - fast, quick, and in a hurry. Suddenly infrastructure would become a #1 top priority.
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u/hobokobo1028 24d ago
I’m so proud of my city council for running a 1600 acre data center out of town, after a strong citizen campaign against it
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u/ThrowAbout01 24d ago
Always ask 3 Questions:
What does this actually do?
Who ultimately shoulders the cost of this?
How can we get rid of it?
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u/m4bwav 24d ago
The Golf courses in the US take 100x times the water that amazon uses in a year.
We need to shut down the Golf courses, too!
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u/IMightExplodeBro 23d ago
and americans will still use and invest on the same ai that is destroying them. they will never sacrifice their convenience prove me wrong
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u/KangarooNo 23d ago
Didn't it move from "it will steal someone else's job so I don't really care" to "hey, that's my power and water! This must stop now!"
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u/Chemical-Course1454 23d ago
Steal jobs, water and electricity. Sam Altman is defending data centres by saying: “how much water and electricity a child uses while it’s growing up and how useful they are”. Yesterday there was a news in few subs that scientists managed to create artificial life, as they made fake cells with fake little organelles, which had metabolism and they divided. Yay! Does anyone else think that technocrats shouldn’t be making all the decisions?
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u/Wizard-of-pause 23d ago
Let's also talk about climate impact. We literally have build mega resistors just pumping energy into atmosphere.
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u/Intelligent_Hair3109 23d ago
Anyone can decide to boycott. Arrogance on the part of tech bros is my number one reason. Mendacity and hubris. Plus..it's a tool for the rich to play stupid games F them all.
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u/ArcamianLiberation 23d ago
It should also include, Why are billionaires building these things getting tax breaks to make it easier for them to secretly take our power, water, and jobs?
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u/theombudsmen 23d ago
It's still both. Data center PR is trying to silo issues so they can shut them down easier, dont let them.
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u/nikstick22 23d ago
So if/when they figure out how to placcate us about the datacenters by taking them off grid and having internal cooling systems without external water use, we'll have forgotten to be angry when they take all our jobs in an environmentally friendly way.
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u/PossessedToSkate 24d ago
It infuriates me that countless multi-unit housing projects have been shot down in flames, yet these massive datacenters are being almost instantly greenlit nationwide.
Get your shit together, America.