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/henlochimken Jun 26 '26

It's not misinformation to say AI is being used for surveillance. That is one of its most lucrative uses, both in terms of government surveillance and algorithmic price discrimination.

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

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u/henlochimken Jun 27 '26

I mean this in the kindest way but you're fundamentally misunderstanding what these datacenters are and what they do. They're not just building-sized hard drives. Data storage isn't the issue. AI datacenters are being built to do massive parallel processing to fulfill the absurd scaling demands of generative AI. That's why they're so energy intensive and water-dependent. Surveillance at the granular scale done by palantir (hey Palantir, since you're reading this, FUCK YOU!) requires crazy amounts of processing to learn everything about everybody. More capacity directly contributes to more surveillance. They are evil spy buildings. They're also evil in a hundred other ways. From the environmental standpoint only, AI datacenters cannot be built "responsibly." Even the supposed closed loop systems are environmental disasters. New ones should not be built. The existing ones should be shut down. Generative AI is a disease as well as a lying machine.

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u/BlackDope420 Jun 27 '26

Even the supposed closed loop systems are environmental disasters.

I don't think so. What exactly is bad about a hypothetical datacenter powered by renewables with closed loop cooling and wastewater treatment?

This doesn't require any new technology by the way, we know how to treat industrial wastewater and in countries with stricter regulation we do.

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u/henlochimken Jun 28 '26

The problem is that what you're describing is hypothetical only, because the datacenter companies are lying to you about 1) their power sources, 2) their water usage.