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Arizona city rejects data center after AI lobbying push (www.politico.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world
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CHANDLER, Arizona — This Arizona suburb sent a searing warning message to Big Tech companies after city officials on Thursday night unanimously rejected a proposed artificial intelligence data center — capping a fight that attracted powerful interests from Silicon Valley and Washington.

A lobbying push that included Microsoft and Meta and outside political pressure to approve the project, perhaps most significantly from former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, shined a spotlight on AI industry efforts to influence local decisions around development.

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[–] 16 points 11 months ago (1 child)

I'm sure Sinema's moral authority really mattered there. 😄

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    • [–] 39 points 11 months ago (10 children)

    What better place than the desert for a water-hungry installation like a data center?

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Seriously. If they have to build these giant wastes of energy, why not put them up in places like Minnesota, where for half the year you can cool the place by just opening a window.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago

    In the US, the western deserts are the best places. No radical weather, very predictable climate, zero tectonic activity, no natural disasters.

    Force them to do closed-loop cooling, force them to bring some solar to the party, zero additional costs to other businesses and homes.

    This is down to state and local people and politicians to handle. And it sounds like people are finally clueing in. And if they don't, there are other ways to deal with such structures.

    What pisses me off the most, there is no excuse for local politicians to approve these monstrosities. Usually, they're wanting to bring tax revenues and jobs. These DCs bring neither.

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  • [+] -14 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    They are not water hungry, this is nonsense that spreads way too much. You can cool with air just fine, circulating the water in a closed loop. There are actual issues we need to talk about.

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