\t\t\t\t\tSign up to see the future, today<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech<\/p>\n
The tech industry has largely failed to win over the public<\/a> when it comes to AI.<\/p>\n Data centers have become a hot-button topic, with the vast majority of Americans \u2014 in a still-growing bipartisan cohort \u2014 now openly opposing them.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, panicking executives are desperately trying to pivot the messaging<\/a> to shore up some support, in last-ditch efforts that aren\u2019t proving fruitful.<\/p>\n As such, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman pleaded in a 3,000 word blog today<\/a> with communities to embrace data centers, arguing that the United States \u201ccan\u2019t afford to lose\u201d the AI race, invoking the country\u2019s post-World War II highway buildout as a parallel.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like the national highway system, our country\u2019s economy, national security, and everyday lives stand to benefit immensely,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n The executive accused the media of spreading \u201cmisinformation and outright lies,\u201d arguing that \u201cin the age of social media and 24\/7 news, myths take hold faster than ever before.\u201d Garman even alleged that US adversaries were \u201cintentionally seeding misinformation in the US about data centers to trick us into slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight now there are over 100 data center moratoriums being considered across the country,\u201d Garman wrote. \u201cIf these measures are enacted, the US could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations.\u201d<\/p>\n In his blog post, Garman tried to undermine concerns over data centers driving up electricity prices and producing huge amounts of pollution \u2014 despite existence of ample evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n Those attempts to dispel \u201cmyths\u201d shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise, considering the enormous backlash. But given the impossible-to-ignore vested interest in underplaying these concerns, we should take Garman\u2019s efforts with an enormous grain of salt.<\/p>\n Just last year, leaked internal Amazon documents showed<\/a> that executives were exchanging notes about how to keep the public ignorant about the \u201ctrue extent\u201d of the massive amounts of water their data centers use.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Axios also reported<\/a> that Amazon\u2019s AI buildout fueled an unprecedented leap in the company\u2019s emissions<\/a>, despite pledging to reach a net-zero carbon footprint by 2040.<\/p>\n While Garman argues that it\u2019s \u201cuntrue\u201d that data centers are spewing huge amounts of carbon emissions with backup diesel generators, we\u2019ve seen plenty of evidence to the contrary. In Texas alone, dozens of AI data center facilities are using environmentally harmful generators<\/a> by exploiting regulatory loopholes. <\/p>\n As much as Garman doesn\u2019t want to admit it, energy prices are indeed sending power bills soaring<\/a>, a fact that certainly isn\u2019t an example of \u201cmisleading and convenient scapegoating.\u201d<\/p>\n He also tried to argue that \u201cthousands of construction jobs are created to build data centers,\u201d without mentioning that most of those jobs evaporate once they\u2019re built<\/a>.<\/p>\n If anything, Garman\u2019s desperate plea \u2014 which wraps up with announcing the establishment of a \u201cnew community program\u201d with the cutesy name of \u201cBuilt Together\u201d \u2014 highlights just how badly the industry has lost the plot. Just this week, a Wall Street Journal poll revealed<\/a> that 62 percent of Americans supported a pause on the construction of AI data centers, 40 percent of whom said it was a top priority.<\/p>\n Undermining the very real concerns of people across the country is unlikely to make a dent in those numbers.<\/p>\n