I host Data Centers Out. I have a question. On Washington Week, in response to Jeffrey Goldberg's question, can A.I. realize its goals if the hyperscale data centers are shut down, his guest Josh Tyrangiel (staff writer for the Atlantic) answered with an emphatic NO. What is your response? If the backlash against data centers culmiinated in a federal law stopping data centers from operating, stopping new ones from being built, would that stop the purported danger of A.I.? (leaving aside the question of whether this would disastrously impact world economy) I'm 77, not up to speed on any of this - although I do have an opinion about hyperscale data centers and the damage that could be caused by A.I. Could you please weigh in?
The short answer is no. New advances in the tech are tracking at an exponential rate. China particularly has learned how to do more with less because of American chip restrictions. These AI systems will get more optimized and efficient so they don't need nearly as much computing power. It's just a matter of time.
The long answer is also no. You see, if Congress passed a law outlawing or restricting data centers, the White House would veto it. Trump and his counterpart Xi in China are both full speed ahead on AI. Congress could pass a law, but it wouldn't survive the executive.
But if you're asking about a future after Trump? One where we did eventually get a Democratic president that wants to limit and control data centers? They'd just move offshore to "data center friendly" countries. And that would be quite dangerous. At least all the government queries are going through American data centers. And American data centers still fall under American jurisdiction. Force them offshore and you get the same data centers running in places with zero transparency, zero labor protections, and zero accountability to US courts. You'd be trading "data centers in my backyard" for "data centers in rural Kazakhstan with no environmental regulations at all."
So sadly, that toothpaste is already out of the tube…
I host Data Centers Out. I have a question. On Washington Week, in response to Jeffrey Goldberg's question, can A.I. realize its goals if the hyperscale data centers are shut down, his guest Josh Tyrangiel (staff writer for the Atlantic) answered with an emphatic NO. What is your response? If the backlash against data centers culmiinated in a federal law stopping data centers from operating, stopping new ones from being built, would that stop the purported danger of A.I.? (leaving aside the question of whether this would disastrously impact world economy) I'm 77, not up to speed on any of this - although I do have an opinion about hyperscale data centers and the damage that could be caused by A.I. Could you please weigh in?
The short answer is no. New advances in the tech are tracking at an exponential rate. China particularly has learned how to do more with less because of American chip restrictions. These AI systems will get more optimized and efficient so they don't need nearly as much computing power. It's just a matter of time.
The long answer is also no. You see, if Congress passed a law outlawing or restricting data centers, the White House would veto it. Trump and his counterpart Xi in China are both full speed ahead on AI. Congress could pass a law, but it wouldn't survive the executive.
But if you're asking about a future after Trump? One where we did eventually get a Democratic president that wants to limit and control data centers? They'd just move offshore to "data center friendly" countries. And that would be quite dangerous. At least all the government queries are going through American data centers. And American data centers still fall under American jurisdiction. Force them offshore and you get the same data centers running in places with zero transparency, zero labor protections, and zero accountability to US courts. You'd be trading "data centers in my backyard" for "data centers in rural Kazakhstan with no environmental regulations at all."
So sadly, that toothpaste is already out of the tube…
So it goes.
Amazing piece thank you! 🙏🏽
Thanks for reading.
I'm going to go for the orchestrated interpretation. When in doubt, assume malice is my philosophy.
It all feels rather orchestrated.
Understatement.
Excellent reporting, as ever. Thank you.
Very interesting research. And I really laughed at “if you’re concerned with AI then why do you invest in it” is “a fair criticism”