Them using a larger town for this human experiment is intentional. If they used a smaller place people might know each other well enough to organise an effective resistance to prevent this effort.

Barnsley is near to where I hail from. This is depressing to hear.

When people ask me about where I'm from, I semi-affectionately describe it as a "shit hole up North". The socioeconomic deprivation just oozes out of the cracks in every paving slab. I suspect this is part of why they're the ones doing this scheme — taking advantage of desperation

I was quite involved in local politics during the extreme austerity cuts of the 2010s Tory government, and I genuinely believe that there is some level of collective trauma caused by them. Places like Barnsley were hit the worst because they were already not doing great socioeconomically. As much as I may condemn any local officials who were a part of this godforsaken partnership with big tech, I also have a tremendous amount of sympathy for them.

Edit: I wanted to add something positive, even if it is a bit bittersweet in light of this announcement.

The European Access City Award is an initiative that recognises European cities that are doing good work for improving accessibility for disabled people of all sorts — both those who live there, and those who visit. It recognises different facets of accessibility, including modifications to the built environment, public transport accessibility and important information being provided in a variety of ways.

There have been 3 UK cities that have been mentioned as part of this award. Chester actually won it in 2017, and is the only UK city to do so. However, when I was checking for any other UK cities, I was surprised to see that Barnsley, of all places, was one of the two cities that got a special mention (the other being Belfast, which is less surprising to me).

Below is an excerpt from the 2011 publication where Barnsley gets this special mention. It's nothing too exciting, but what is most notable to me is that the progress towards increasing accessibility is framed against the backdrop of Barnsley being, in my words, a bit of a shithole. Places like this are in particular need of person-centred governance, which is why the OP is so disheartening to read. (Sorry for wall of text. I considered putting it in a screenshot, but it felt hypocritical, given that this is about accessibility)

Knowing as much about AI as I do, it's hard to see this "tech-town" nonsense as anything but harmful for accessibility. This perfectly encapsulates the wistful sadness I feel towards the place where I hail from.

"Barnsley is a metropolitan borough (population 226 000) in the Yorkshire and Humber region of England which particularly impressed the judges for its initiatives in the area of services to people with disabilities.

The borough is unique in the UK context in that it has a much higher incidence of disability than the national average. One quarter of the population of Barnsley is disabled, with 13 % of the working age population claiming incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, compared to an average 7 % in England.

The Council believes that access to goods, services and facilities is important to all people with disabilities if they are to enjoy independence, choice and equality. The borough has therefore been implementing a three year plan (ending March 2012) to provide a range of services to people with disabilities that are located in places that are easy to get to.

Involving people with disabilities The ‘Remaking Barnsley’ initiative, a comprehensive programme for the transformation of the urban centre adopted in 2009, involves local people with disabilities at all stages in the design and development of new buildings and public spaces to ensure the highest possible standards of accessibility.

The process has already delivered the new transport Interchange – formerly Barnsley Exchange Station – a fully enclosed passenger environment that has greatly improved access for disabled people. The next phase of Remaking Barnsley covers the rebuilding of large parts of the town centre and public spaces. This provides even greater opportunities to achieve Barnsley’s long-term ambition to become ‘the most accessible market town in Britain’ "

B) Then northerners with a chip on their shoulder will grouse about tech investment staying in the same towns.

Could be worse, if they rolled out an AI to Rochdale it'd turn more racist than Grok faster than Tay did.