I get a lot of questions about data centers and AI’s impact on the environment. These are nuanced topics with very valid concerns.
Data centers, in particular, have become a hot-button issue across the industry, in politics, and in local communities where they are being built.
A recent episode of The Ezra Klein podcast featuring Jasmine Sun offers one of the most objective and informative conversations I’ve heard on the topic.
The question the episode presents is, “how much is the data center backlash about the actual construction of these buildings, and how much is it about A.I. itself?”
We’re going to discuss it on episode 232 of The Artificial Intelligence Show next week, but if this is an area that’s of interest to you, I would highly recommend listening to the full Ezra Klein episode.
“I think that a lot of the public backlash to AI that has risen over the past six months is not explained by people thinking that the technology has no use at all.
“It's not explained by them being worried about specific technical properties of LLMs that might lead to rogue AI or misalignment or whatever, which are the safest arguments.
“It's AI as an avatar for a small group of Silicon Valley billionaires' ability to impose their vision of the world onto everybody else without their consent. I think that's also what I hear echoed in these data center debates.
“It's not just it's going to use this much water or that much water. I frankly think that even if there was no misinformation about water use, people would be just as angry about the data centers.
“Which is to say that I think sometimes people don't like a thing, and they're looking for reasons to justify that dislike.”
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