this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/54061344

https://archive.ph/2026.11.05-224738/https://www.ft.com/content/32fd4450-5880-437d-9bd9-df13289ada24

The US midterm elections — in which voters elected anti-data centre governors in Texas, Georgia and Ohio and passed 38 local votes in favour of restrictions on their development — have forced the tech industry to reflect on its failure to connect with the public.

“The reason is not that people are Luddites . . . it’s much like the protests against the masks in Covid. It has become a political symbol,” said Vik Bajaj, co-chief executive of the Jeff Bezos-backed AI start-up Prometheus.

. . . “As a profession, we have spent two years pretty dangerously telling people that AI will change the future of work for the worse — that they will be out of jobs, that their children will be out of jobs, their grandchildren will live in a world that’s unrecognisable. And then for the last year or so, we’ve also been flirting with the idea that it’s an existential crisis.”

“I think this election was a big wake-up call . . . to take a pause and think about what’s happening and approach this in a way that’s maybe a little more thoughtful,” said John Hanke, founder of Niantic Spatial, the AI world model company and gaming group that made Pokémon Go. “It’s been go, go, go, build, build, build, and some of that has been . . . with head buried in sand.”

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[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 hours ago

Good. Let their fingers be burned right off if need be. Those vast data centers are to be used to facilitate oppression, not to improve the quality of life of anyone but (maybe) billionaires.

[–] mad_lentil@lemmy.ca 26 points 2 days ago

There was never a fucking "boom" just a lot of stupid money being thrown at the latest gamble, rather than investing in the boring, predictable things we know makes life better for people right now.

[–] ContactClosure@lemmus.org 13 points 1 day ago

Something something invisible hand of the market.

[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.today 11 points 2 days ago

Oh noes! Did the trillionaires' playtime pretend investments never happen? Oh, poor trillionaires. Maybe they can just hop into a dick-rocket and get the fuck off our planet instead.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago

will of the people threatening all with less horribleness.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago
[–] CreativeCider@lemmy.world 97 points 2 days ago

Seems to be good-news-friday

“Backlash against unwanted resource hogs threatens our pocketbook.”

That’s what they mean.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

"My community is destroying my hopes of ever building my pollution factories!"

[–] dektep@lemmy.world 59 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 days ago

Eeey, it's Mr. Dong Lover

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Any time you start forcefully shoving shit down someone's throat there will be a backlash. In the recent old days you had to back everything up with facts, show whether it is beneficial or not and detail the economy of moving forward. Now it's just Yosemite Sam with guns-a-blazing!

[–] redballooon@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Want some tulips? I can ship you some in 2 months time. Better buy now, to be sure you are the one who gets them.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

No thanks. If you're making a point, it's way beyond me to grasp. Tulips are pretty and colourful though.

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Onward the Butlerian Jihad!

[–] BuckFutter@timeyak.com 50 points 2 days ago

This sounds like a win for homeowners power bills…infinite growth projections for these projects was ludicrous levels of stupidity.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days ago

"The fact that my business model doesn't work is an unfair threat to my business model!"

[–] Tetragrade@leminal.space 4 points 1 day ago
[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago

I hope that this means thoughtful conversations about how much AI compute infrastructure is actually useful given realistic demand curves, where it should be located, what resources will it require, and, importantly, how the companies that benefit from it will directly share those benefits, as compared to hazy gestures towards "economic development".

I fear that this is just the industry telling us they're about to start lying even more than they have.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

imagine if we put this much into the power grid. Might have cheap electricity instead of centralized AI.

[–] dovahking@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

We'd have a working fusion reactor with that kind of money.

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I mean, these tech CEOs went to college graduation ceremonies and said "None of you will be getting jobs, lol" and went on TV and said "AI will destroy humanity" and then ramped their data center expansion so rapidly that peoples electric bill went up by 300% and when the public hates them and their technology and votes accordingly they are "What happened? How can people be so short-sighted? Why is this so political?"

I dunno, fuckheads, maybe move fast and break things isn't a popular strategy when applied to society.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 days ago

"Won't somebody think of the poor billionaires?!"

[–] rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Yay! Give the RAM back you cunts!

[–] jaykrown@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

The bubble in China already popped months ago, and the "neocloud" data center companies are crashing.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Maybe this was simply too much, too fast, with insufficient demonstrable value.

But the NDAs, backroom deals, hoarding, shell games with debt, blatant illegal activity and disregard for environmental laws and just all the fucking shenanigans have to come to a head. Of course this was going to get hit with backlash!

If all these companies weren’t treating this as a selfish land grab maybe everyone wouldn’t hate them.

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[–] Dragomus@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The current AI craze is a fraud that's pushed by the "tech leaders".
So hungry for money they build "empty" datacenters just to rent them out at a later date to an unknown customer...
Meanwhile the big names are giving each other their money and hardware in some perverse rotation scheme and call it profits.

They're all so glued to it that they urgently need to prevent the bubble bursting lest they destroy all their riches.

[–] pheelicks@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

So hungry for money they build "empty" datacenters just to rent them out at a later date to an unknown customer...

That's sadly how most of the real estate industry works, not just data centers.

[–] Prox@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago
[–] meathappening@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This shit wouldn't have happened if we sent all the Web3 guys to the bottom of the ocean.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 days ago

The crypto bros who got to pivot to AI hardware have got to be some of the luckiest pieces of shit on earth.

[–] BillDaCatt@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's not the danger that pisses me off. That's manageable with good regulation and enforcement. It's their insistence that I have to embrace this technology or else forgo the technologies and services that I regularly use that I object to!

Google used to be awesome. Now search is a garbage fire that barely works. Texting on my phone used to predict typed words based on my frequently used words, now it offers words that I almost never use! I can't even use Google Assistant any longer without signing up for Gemini.

Nvidia used to sell graphics card to consumers and those cards were affordable. Now even ten year old refurbished cards are getting more expensive and harder to find.

Most other tech companies suck in much the same way. Used to be great (or at least pretty good)... Went all-in on AI... Now it sucks giant donkey balls AND the product or service is more expensive than ever! Fuck me right?!

The capabilities of AI are indeed impressive, but not everyone needs it and most people like me don't want it. And I, for one, am absolutely not willing to pay for any AI services period!

And let's not forget the environmental disaster the data centers have turned out to be!

I hope the entire AI industry dies in a fire!

[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

capabilities of AI are indeed impressive

[citation needed]

[–] lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I'm glad they put that together. A big part of the reason i am lashing back against AI is to threaten the data centre boom. At least they are starting to grasp the point of all this.

[–] kurmudgeon@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

And once again, all tech leaders give a shit about his money. They're willing to destroy the planet, eat up all the energy, pollute all the water, it doesn't matter, as long as they can make their fucking money.

[–] UpAndAtThem@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago
[–] axh@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Think about poor defenseless data centers!

Those poor defenseless data centers with all those precious minerals.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We went from 0 data centers to 3 under construction in the last couple years. I hope they abandon the projects and let wildlife have the land back.

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[–] Zippygutterslug@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

A trillion dollars for who, to achieve what? For the rich, to enrich themselves.

[–] andyburke@fedia.io 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No one wants your AI running in jet powered freshwater-sucking data centers when you can run open models on the equivalent of a few incandescent bulbs.

Not to mention it makes no sense to trust these corporations that stole all the training data to keep your intellectual property safe and out of their future models.

None of it makes sense.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

when you can run open models on the equivalent of a few incandescent bulbs.

dear god, why do you fucking ai cheerleaders keep coming to FUCK AI?

THE OPEN MODELS ARE STILL BUILT ON STOLEN INFORMATION.

here's an idea, do without. you don't need the trash. you don't need to steal. you got along fine before AI, you'll get along fine after. stop making it your entire personality.

jfc

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

The half finished, already in debt AI centers, offering services that the public is widely unwilling to pay for?

[–] kaitco@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Oh no…

Anyway, how’s this Friday going for everyone?

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago
[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 days ago

ooohhh nooooo....

the tragedy

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