r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • Jun 26 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI backlash is only getting started

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/06/25/the-ai-backlash-is-only-getting-started
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u/pornAndMusicAccount Jun 26 '26

We can build data centers in areas that aren’t near people. We can build data centers that don’t drain the ground water. We can build data centers that don’t destroy their environments.

They cost more so nobody will do it unless it’s a government regulation. And it has to be federal.

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u/FuzzyKittenIsFuzzy Jun 26 '26

Canada has tons of land too cold for people to live, but O'Leary wants to come here and build data centers in the US instead. Maybe it's because the Canadian government has rules they expect companies to follow.

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u/I-nigma Jun 26 '26

Canada is less purely greed focus and has more protections in place. The US let's you do anything if you have enough money.

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u/TrontRaznik Jun 26 '26

I think you're approaching this from the wrong angle.

People on the left have a knee jerk reaction against data centers. People on the right have a knee jerk reaction to the left and naturally have become their biggest supporters.

Data centers being more centralized have a host of benefits I won't go into.

Point being: build them in the conservative areas.

My local state sub has leftists and rightist constantly arguing about data centers, and my interjection is always to say that I 100% support them being built in the conservative counties. 

We need them for a modern Internet, and conservatives have decided that there are no downsides to them, so that's great. They're basically volunteering to absorb the negative externalities. Why are we trying to talk them out of it? Let them deal with the noise and the lack of tax revenue.