Data center. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NLR.
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I saw a title this morning — “It Took a While, but Americans May Have Found Something We All Hate” — and thought immediately that it must be referring to AI, or more specifically AI data centers. Indeed, that’s what it was about. However, as much as I appreciated the article and absolutely love the publication, the title irked me a little bit. If the country was united around hate for AI, we’d be in a very different situation.
In actuality, a lot of people are happy to use AI for all kinds of things. Companies are also tapping it obsessively. There’s a strong suspicion it’s not delivering a very good ROI at the moment and usage will cut back, but others argue the opposite. Without a doubt, all of the growth and hype has led to enormous expansion plans, which means unfathomably large data centers that use insane amounts of energy. That’s where we get to the focus of the article from The New Republic.
Yes, the huge data centers and their voracious electricity demands are spurring backlash in the places where they are being built or are planned for construction. However, that’s normal “NIMBY” behavior. The same happens with normal power plants (even clean ones) and industrial facilities. But these will still go through. Some will be blocked, but most will get built — and will even be given massive tax incentives and other subsidies from local municipalities.
