{"id":834452,"date":"2026-07-30T23:27:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T23:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834452\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T23:27:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T23:27:17","slug":"launceston-students-walk-out-of-class-to-protest-ai-data-centres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834452\/","title":{"rendered":"Launceston students walk out of class to protest AI data centres"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of Tasmanian students are demanding stricter rules on artificial intelligence after around 100 protesters rallied at Launceston\u2019s Royal Park on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

High school and university students walked out of classrooms, arguing unregulated AI is harming their futures and their state.<\/p>\n

The protest comes amid growing community opposition to Firmus Technologies, which is building a $2 billion data centre at St Leonards near Launceston and planning two more facilities at Bell Bay and Wesley Vale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has an enormous gender and racial bias and there is no viable good use for it,\u201d one student told 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

\"\"Around 100 protesters gathered to demand stricter AI regulations. Image \/ 7NEWS<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve dealt with not having AI for thousands upon thousands of years \u2013 why do we need it now?,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

Students also raised alarm about deepfakes, saying the technology is being used to create harmful images of people without their consent, including images of children.<\/p>\n

\"\"Around 100 protesters gathered to demand stricter AI regulations. Image \/ 7NEWS<\/p>\n

The group says the action will not stop until stricter guidelines are imposed.<\/p>\n

In response, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the answer was simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that artificial intelligence is here to stay \u2026 that is evident from across the globe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s how we ensure there are boundaries around, uh, the use of AI that is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Around 100 protesters gathered to demand stricter AI regulations. Image \/ 7NEWS<\/p>\n

George Town Council rejected a petition opposing the proposed Firmus data centre at Bell Bay on Tuesday despite it attracting more than 5,000 signatures, dismissing it on a technicality.<\/p>\n

The council is expected to consider the Bell Bay application in August after extending the consultation period by 14 days following a meeting where more than 120 residents voiced concerns.<\/p>\n

Firmus co-CEO Oliver Curtis has defended the projects, saying the St Leonards site would use around 3.3 million litres of water annually \u2013 less than a typical restaurant.<\/p>\n

He said ongoing employment would total around 52 jobs at St Leonards, 144 at Bell Bay and 20 at Wesley Vale, alongside hundreds of construction roles.<\/p>\n

\"\"Around 100 protesters gathered to demand stricter AI regulations. Image \/ 7NEWS<\/p>\n

Opponents argue those numbers do not justify the energy demand and scale of the developments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are existing users of energy in Tasmania \u2013 they have priority over us,\u201d Curtis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re basically last on and first off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of Tasmanian students are demanding stricter rules on artificial intelligence after around 100 protesters rallied at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-834452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}