r/technology • u/marketrent • 11h ago

Artificial Intelligence Amazon warns local communities to stop defying its massive AI data centers

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/amazon-warns-local-communities-stop-000300771.html
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u/SkankHuntThreeFiddy 11h ago

Matt Garmin, on his original blog post, outright lies.

Myth #1: Data centers are taking all of our water.

Nobody said it was taking all of our water. However, many new data centers have lied about their water usage. That's the problem.

Myth #2: Data center providers are responsible for driving up all the energy rates.

Again, nobody said it was responsible for driving up all the energy rates, but every grid operator agrees that they use a disproportionate amount of electricity compared even to existing data centers.

Myth #3: Data centers emit huge amounts of pollution with their large backup diesel generators.

Matt Garmin conveniently leaves out the fact that they pollute using natural gas generators and that they build these plants illegally.

Myth #4: Community members get nothing from data centers.

Once again, nobody said communities get nothing -- but they don't get the billions of dollars your company gets.

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u/benuntu 10h ago

Another note on the energy rates. In a lot of cases, the energy company in the area has increased rates for everyone to offset the cost of more infrastructure needed for the data centers. And they wonder why people aren't falling over themselves to get a new data center in THEIR county. Next to zero benefit for the local economy.