Communities in the US are also waking up to this problem: https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-artificial-intelligence-nimby-tech-21fa7b957664d5dca6788e35ab43b88e For now AI companies burn cash faster than a dope fiend. With time the tech will evolve, improve and supposedly create an inflow of cash. I know the AI data-centers thing is crazy, to say the least. However they are needed to advance the tech and to stay on top of the game. Historically Chinese people have criticized their state because of pollution problems and the CCP is a bit wary of the subject. Though I doubt Xi will hold back the AI race to please the citizens. Anyway, my point is I prefer to be ruled by a western AI than a non-western one...

> Their activist group called the "Clouds Were Under Our Feet," claims the city can either power the five data centres taking over buildings around its famous port or electrify the bus network. Hard choices need to be made.

I feel so naive and a little bit crazy reading about these projects to create data centres because AI compute is literally the most fungible thing ever. What benefit is there in having an AI data centre next to your town when the thing it provides is *absolutely identical* to the AI compute that might be provided by a data centre somewhere else? It's not like housing, where its value depends on where it is. Honestly, I don't really care if the water thing is true or not. To the average person, AI presents itself as a kind of insidious hyperobject that didn't exist one day and now seems to be everywhere, dictating the priorities of governments and businesses who all seem completely obsessed with it. And let's be honest, local politicians are complete schmucks who are really easy to corrupt because they hardly get paid anything in the first place.