AI data centers spark backlash
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Governments and companies raced to build vast AI data centers worldwide, prompting environmental concerns and local resistance while raising questions about power demand, siting and risky debt financing.
Reposted by Julie L. Lockwood
new from me today: not all data centers are created environmentally equal — and building them in states with cleaner grids and more access to water could go a long way in preventing environmental catastrophe
If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here’s Where They Should Go
A new analysis tries to calculate the coming environmental footprint of AI in the US and finds that the ideal sites for data centers aren’t where they’re being built.
www.wired.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:11 PM
new from me today: not all data centers are created environmentally equal — and building them in states with cleaner grids and more access to water could go a long way in preventing environmental catastrophe
Love the phrases "Cognitive Cost" and "Executive Function Theft" to pinpoint how exhausting it is to be constantly bombarded with apps telling you to use AI. I've been calling it "Corporate pressure" and "Force feeding". It's quite a lot right now. Seems a bit desperate tbh.
The #ExecutiveFunctionTheft of having to opt out.
Feeling annoyed at the cognitive cost of having to dismiss all the offers of "AI" assitance every time I use Acrobat to provide feedback on documents my students wrote. (NO I do NOT want an "AI" summary of this. In what world???)
Decided to check settings:
Decided to check settings:
November 10, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Love the phrases "Cognitive Cost" and "Executive Function Theft" to pinpoint how exhausting it is to be constantly bombarded with apps telling you to use AI. I've been calling it "Corporate pressure" and "Force feeding". It's quite a lot right now. Seems a bit desperate tbh.
Interview from last week’s AI in Science summit in Copenhagen ais25.eu
Europe’s Win and Worry with Artificial Intelligence
Launch of RAISE – the Resource for AI Science in Europe.
www.sciencestories.dk
November 10, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Interview from last week’s AI in Science summit in Copenhagen ais25.eu
Free access to "Artificial Intelligence and Labor Markets: Evidence from Google Trends" is available at rdcu.be/eHd8u.
November 11, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Free access to "Artificial Intelligence and Labor Markets: Evidence from Google Trends" is available at rdcu.be/eHd8u.
Whoa! According to Jason Furman the only US industry to grow this year has been data centers & IT
This seems significant.
"U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman."
"U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman."
Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says | Fortune
Is a U.S. without data centers a country without GDP growth?
fortune.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Whoa! According to Jason Furman the only US industry to grow this year has been data centers & IT
My newest post on the local labor market effects of Data Centers . . .
#DataCenters @profweinstein.bsky.social
michaeljhicks.substack.com/p/data-cente...
#DataCenters @profweinstein.bsky.social
michaeljhicks.substack.com/p/data-cente...
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
My newest post on the local labor market effects of Data Centers . . .
#DataCenters @profweinstein.bsky.social
michaeljhicks.substack.com/p/data-cente...
#DataCenters @profweinstein.bsky.social
michaeljhicks.substack.com/p/data-cente...
Reposted by Mark Graham, Prokla Redaktion
KI klingt nach Zukunft – aber sie lebt von menschlicher, unsichtbarer Arbeit. Ich habe für @freitag.de mit @geoplace.bsky.social über sein Buch „Feeding the Machine“ gesprochen – und darüber, was KI wirklich kostet. Leseempfehlung für alle, die hinter die Kulissen der "KI-Unternehmen" schauen wollen
„Die Arbeitsbedingungen sind brutal“: Über die geheimen Malocher hinter ChatGPT
Hinter jedem KI-Bild steckt Handarbeit: Menschen in Kenia, Indien oder auf den Philippinen schuften stundenlang für Hungerlöhne, um Maschinen klüger zu machen. Im Gespräch enthüllt Mark Graham die uns...
www.freitag.de
November 10, 2025 at 8:39 AM
KI klingt nach Zukunft – aber sie lebt von menschlicher, unsichtbarer Arbeit. Ich habe für @freitag.de mit @geoplace.bsky.social über sein Buch „Feeding the Machine“ gesprochen – und darüber, was KI wirklich kostet. Leseempfehlung für alle, die hinter die Kulissen der "KI-Unternehmen" schauen wollen
“AI is trained based on a massive taking of people’s data without consent, oversight, limitation, or any consideration of the harms it might create.” – from “The Great Scrape” FINAL PUBLISHED ARTICLE papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
“AI is trained based on a massive taking of people’s data without consent, oversight, limitation, or any consideration of the harms it might create.” – from “The Great Scrape” FINAL PUBLISHED ARTICLE papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
by Kate Jackson
Can't get the government to promise to bail out AI? Well, entangle AI in Wall Street so much that the government will be forced to bail out both to preserve...the financial system itself.
This is insane. This is *literally* doing the same mechanics of the housing crisis and 2008 recession but to create debt to finance construction of AI data centers
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
November 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Can't get the government to promise to bail out AI? Well, entangle AI in Wall Street so much that the government will be forced to bail out both to preserve...the financial system itself.
Reposted by Aija Leiponen
This seems significant.
"U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman."
"U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman."
Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says | Fortune
Is a U.S. without data centers a country without GDP growth?
fortune.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
This seems significant.
"U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman."
"U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman."
Reposted by Kate Jackson
This is insane. This is *literally* doing the same mechanics of the housing crisis and 2008 recession but to create debt to finance construction of AI data centers
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
This is insane. This is *literally* doing the same mechanics of the housing crisis and 2008 recession but to create debt to finance construction of AI data centers
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
Reposted by Cecilia Rikap
#BuyEuropean reicht zur Stärkung des Digitalstandorts Europa nicht aus, argumentiert @ceciliarikap.bsky.social. Sie hat untersucht, wie sehr Google, Microsoft, Amazon und Meta inzwischen mit der #KI-Forschungslandschaft verwoben sind. Direkt, aber vor allem indirekt (Test/Abo) 👉 t1p.de/ssacc
November 10, 2025 at 10:21 AM
#BuyEuropean reicht zur Stärkung des Digitalstandorts Europa nicht aus, argumentiert @ceciliarikap.bsky.social. Sie hat untersucht, wie sehr Google, Microsoft, Amazon und Meta inzwischen mit der #KI-Forschungslandschaft verwoben sind. Direkt, aber vor allem indirekt (Test/Abo) 👉 t1p.de/ssacc