Protesters dressed as cardboard robots chanted and danced to a drumbeat as they protested against new data centres outside Oakland City Hall last month.
asserted
they → dress → Hall
Their concerns largely focused on how the centres — which process large amounts of digital information — might strain the energy grid.
uncertain
which → focus → grid
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The result, they argued, would not only be environmental harm but also sky-high electricity bills for local households.
asserted
they → reject → households
“Power prices have gone up so much in Oakland that some people are thinking of shutting off their power,” said Carlos Gutierrez, an activist for Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental justice group.
asserted
Gutierrez → go → Environment
“And the city is planning to provide power to a data centre instead.”
asserted
city → plan → centre
Opposition to data centres is growing across the United States, as residents express concern about their rapid expansion.
asserted
residents → grow → expansion
More than 3,000 data centres already operate in the country, with more than 1,500 others in development, according to the Pew Research Center.
But the backlash is perhaps most striking in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, a region considered to be the heart of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
uncertain
backlash → operate → boom
Major AI companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta are based in the Bay Area, and the industry’s growth has been credited with fuelling a local economic renaissance.
asserted
growth → base → renaissance
Data centres house the advanced computer chips and servers needed to run AI-powered services such as Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
asserted
centres → house → Claude
But they also require 24-hour power and a large supply of water to cool their processors.
asserted
they → require → processors
Even with such cooling technology, data centres are notorious for emitting heat, leading to an increase in land surface temperatures as high as 9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit).
asserted
centres → cool → degrees
Concerns about the cost of rapid data centre growth, both environmentally and financially, have catapulted the issue into the discourse around Tuesday’s midterm elections.
asserted
Concerns → catapult → elections
In the final two months before the vote, at least seven Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and Richmond, have passed temporary moratoriums on data centre construction.
asserted
cities → include → construction
They include Oakland, which passed a data centre moratorium on October 6, after days of protest.
asserted
which → include → protest
Local politicians competing in Tuesday’s midterms have also used the topic as a wedge issue, to rally support among certain pockets of voters.
asserted
politicians → compete → voters
One of the most closely watched races in the Bay Area is for the seat left vacant by longtime Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
asserted
One → watch → Pelosi
After 39 years in the House of Representatives, Pelosi is retiring at the end of the year.
asserted
Pelosi → retire → year
Two Democrats are competing in Tuesday’s election to fill her position in Congress: San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and state Senator Scott Wiener.
asserted
Democrats → compete → Congress
Each one has staked out a different position on AI data centres.
asserted
one → stake → centres
Wiener, for instance, opposes any ban on data centres.
asserted
Wiener → oppose → centres
“A blanket data centre moratorium could undermine AI regulation,” he told the publication Mission Local.
uncertain
he → undermine → publication
Chan, meanwhile, has pledged to seek a nationwide moratorium on data centres, at least until responsible AI regulation is put in place.
asserted
regulation → pledge → place
“Let’s start with a moratorium on data centres. Allow us to have that moment to regulate artificial intelligence,” she said at a debate in October.
asserted
she → start → October
Chan played a leading role in passing San Francisco’s moratorium in early October.
asserted
Chan → play → October
A poll from the University of Southern California showed Wiener leading Chan 47 percent to 41, as of mid-October.
asserted
Wiener → show → October
“Right now, data centre opposition is an issue that unifies the US public like no other,” said Shum Preston, a political analyst based in San Francisco.
asserted
Preston → unify → Francisco
But he speculates that there may be several reasons for the lack of pushback to the bans.
uncertain
he → speculate → bans
Among them are the surveys indicating widespread public backlash to data centre creation.
asserted
surveys → indicate → creation
An October CNBC poll found that 63 percent of registered US voters oppose building data centres within 16 kilometres, or 10 miles, of their homes.
asserted
percent → find → homes
“Data centres poll very poorly, and developers probably don’t want to put their supervisor friends in trouble ahead of elections.
asserted
developers → poll → elections
So they probably let this pass,” Preston said.
asserted
Preston → let → ?
He also signalled that the short-term nature of the moratoriums may be a factor.
uncertain
nature → signal → moratoriums
Certain Bay Area cities like San Francisco, Brisbane and Oakland paused construction on data centres for 45 days, with the option to extend the ban later.
asserted
cities → pause → ban
Opponents of the moratoriums “will be more vocal when” the 45 days end, Preston said.
asserted
Preston → end → moratoriums
By that time, the heat of the midterm election season will also have settled, he added.
asserted
he → settle → season
“That’s when the hearings will get more contentious,” he said.
asserted
he → ’ → ?
Another hurdle facing the moratoriums is the lack of transparency surrounding data centre construction.
asserted
hurdle → face → construction
Supervisor Shamann Walton, who sponsored San Francisco’s moratorium ordinance, has argued that the city’s definition of “data centres” is outdated.
asserted
definition → sponsor → centres
Created in 2001 — long before the AI boom — the city planning code defines data centres as “internet service exchanges”, a definition that may not accurately characterise the technology today.
Walton said the outdated language has made it hard for authorities to count how many data centres exist in the city.
uncertain
centres → create → city
Not being able to identify data centres can also prevent city officials from monitoring their power and water usage.
asserted
being → identify → power
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
