The moral panic over data centres is foolish
THE SUPPLY of capital is not the only constraint on the investment of America’s AI companies. They must also worry about politics. In growing numbers and with growing fury, American voters oppose the building of data centres, which provide the computing power to train and run AI models. The opposition spans the nationalist right and the environmentalist left. Such is the backlash that the infrastructure has become one of the defining issues of this year’s midterm elections. Politicians are racing to outdo one another with restrictions, moratoriums and bans on building. Voters and politicians alike are making a big mistake.
TL;DR
- Voters and politicians are increasingly opposing data center construction, mistaking their role in AI development.
- Claims of excessive water usage are often based on inaccurate calculations; data centers use less water than portrayed and many recycle it.
- While data centers require substantial electricity, they have not significantly raised energy prices and can help spread fixed infrastructure costs.
- The economic benefits, including substantial tax revenues funding public services, are significant.
- Opposing data centers risks ceding technological advantage to China and repeating past mistakes of hollowing out the physical economy.
- Concerns about noise pollution are often overstated, with many instances attributed to Bitcoin mines rather than AI facilities.