Why Building AI Data Centres Isn’t Working Anymore

I knew eventually "move fast and break things" mentality would break something important.

14:28 "Sure the planet got destroyed, but for a moment we created lots of value for the shareholder"

Urban explorers are gonna be thriving for years after these data center sites are abandoned.

I can’t believe there would be something that made me think “the annoying NFT craze was pretty alright all things considered.”

This is the most horrific government-corporate mania of my lifetime. In 15 years we've gone from loving tech companies to despising them, with good reason.

I live in Northern Virginia where we have the highest number of data centers in the country. I write this long story in hopes one person reads it and learns the truth. If it helps prevent another data center it will have been worth writing. Ten years ago we had only a few data centers, and they were mostly for the government and government services. They blended into the landscape, like corporate buildings along a highway. Then, like a tsunami wave, out of state companies showed up in droves. Month after month they bought up natural land, pressured our local government - who were easily influenced - to rezone for commercial, and lobbied our officials to let them build massive data centers everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. Turn your head and you’ll see one blocking out the sun and clouds, no trees or birds anymore, they’re all gone, replaced by towering walls of concrete for miles. We can’t go anywhere without confronting soulless concrete monstrosities so ugly they make the brutalist movement look quaint. So heartwrenchingly imposing it feels stressful, traumatic, even dystopian to look at. Entire forests and natural landscapes once protected by law were destroyed, overrun, and bulldozed. Replaced by miles and miles of concrete with no aesthetic design or integration into the community. They look like high security prisons encircling your neighborhood, your town center, your schools, entire stretches of road peppered with them one after another. Think I’m exaggerating? Come see for yourself. Think I’m just some luddite? I was a lawyer and lobbyist. And not for who you think. When it began happening many of us fought. We were told the same tired lies—oh, it will create tax income, oh, it will create jobs, oh, it won’t have any environmental impact. No one believed it—except our government who had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. What happened? Our remaining forests and farmlands—gone to overdevelopment! The energy suck of data centers is so IMMENSE that county residents are actually getting power outages on top of skyrocketing energy prices! Taxes? They actually got tax BREAKS as part of an economic development program. Jobs? Oh no. Turns out the lifeless structures only need a small handful of rack monkeys to operate. No real jobs were created unless you count the CEOs of the companies that own and built them. In return, our soil and waterways are getting polluted. The waste never disclosed by the owners must be dealt with, and the vast amount of water needed for these miles of machines is draining our drinking system. Forget property values if they build next to your home/community, and they are. None of this is acknowledged by the absent T owners. We are facing serious problems. We have yet to hear a solution from a single executive or politician. Those of us old enough to remember the beauty of what used to be called horse and hunt country are heartbroken. It didn’t need to be this way. But greed is powerful. Look closely at us. Don’t ignore the lesson in our experience. Fight these things with all your might. You’ll be thankful you did.

So, basically : - No one asked for AI or needed it so much, but it's being built anyway, at a tremendous environmental cost. - It brings electricity bills higher, pollution, contamination, noise and many more problems for the communities surrounding the data centers. - It uses a stupid amount of energy that most likely will be generated burning fossil fuels, contributing to climate change. - If the AI bubble burst, we all are going to pay for it, one way or another. - Most likely will make you lose your job. - The companies are not going to recover their investments. - Data centers don't pay taxes. - Data centers don't create a lot of new jobs for being built and surely much less once they start running. - we already live in a competitive and greedy world, AI will only make it worse

$800 a month for electricity is crazy 😧

Do you live near an AI data center? If so, what's your experience? Don't forget to sign up to Revolut at: https://get.revolut.com/z4lF/coldfusion, use your card once, and get AU$40 (or your currency equivalent). T&Cs, end date and min spend apply. And as always thanks for watching the video!

Isn’t it weird? For the past 2 decades all we heard about was climate change and global warming, how we need to shower less and eat less meat to “do our part” and all that noise around the environment has entirely disappeared as soon as Billy gates could make some money off AI with Microsoft. How he came out within the past year to say “it’s not as bad as we predicted” so these AI data centers can build dozens of fossil fuel power generators on site and pollute constantly with no care in the world? Isn’t that just SO weird?? During Covid we were being told we needed to turn things around within the year to save our planet and now that’s all been cast entirely to the wind because these corporations saw the chance to make big bucks. It’s pretty awesome, thanks guys.