Letter to Editor about Data Center presentation
My local paper accepts Letters To The Editor that are up to 300 words in length. My letter is 600 words ... so I emailed them to request an exception to this rule. We'll see if they publish it! Letter is below, with redactions.
[Local Group] recently gave a presentation to a large crowd, including elected officials, at [Location in my city]. There's one thing they seriously misrepresented, which I would like to clear up - their argument about how we all use "data" everyday.
First, what is a Data Center? It's a warehouse with a lot of computers. Spotify's music is stored on those computers, and sent to you over long cables in the ground when you listen. Google's maps are stored on those computers, and sent to you over cell phone towers when you navigate. When you share photos of your vacation on Facebook, they're uploaded to computers in a data center. The data centers are the hub we all connect to when we use the internet.
These data centers are the ones we all use every day, and there were already a lot of them before the recent A.I. boom, and they were not a hot political topic.
A.I. Data Centers are different. It is still a warehouse full of computers, that's true. But they are not the hubs we all connect to every single day. These computers don't send you songs to listen to or share your photos with friends and family. They sit around, day-after-day, doing extremely complex math operations, all-day-long, 24/7, while processing every single piece of content every single human has ever made.
They "read" every book ever written, and translate it into a computer algorithm. They "see" nearly every photo anyone has ever put online, and translate it into a computer algorithm. They consume every news article ever put online, and translate it into a computer algorithm.
This process uses a lot more energy than traditional data centers. These A.I. computers use different processors (called GPUs) and more computer hardware (built with rare-earth minerals) than traditional data centers. These A.I. computers generate far more heat. The power generation to run them uses water and creates pollution. The cooling they require also uses water and power and creates pollution.
[Local Group] gave the false impression that a new data center in [My City] might be like the traditional ones that power the internet. But it's just not true. Nvidia is the primary company that produces the GPUs that power A.I. computers. In 2018, Nvidia's stock price peaked around $7 per share. Today, Nvidia's stock price is over $200 per share. It's because A.I. data centers are popping up everywhere, and Nvidia makes the processors that power them.
The primary business purpose of these A.I. developments is to automate jobs previously done by people. Jobs like marketing, music production, software programming, customer service, artwork, cashiers, movie producers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, and more. We've already seen the impact in all these industries, and it will only get worse.
We already live in a society where the richest people price gouge, dodge regulations, design products to fail, and do whatever they can to maximize profits. Over the long term, A.I. will eliminate many more jobs, further consolidate money & power into the hands of elites, and create culture from algorithms instead of from human hands. It's already happening now. We need protections that go far beyond data center bans - regulations that protect workers, that figure out how to feed and shelter people in a world with not enough jobs to go around.
Here in [My City], I am resisting the development of A.I. data centers. Not because I think it will stop the forward march of our society, but because I am concerned about local impacts to our air & water quality, because I am concerned about energy prices, and because I want no part in this evil.