Are AI Data Centers A Land Grab or Something Else

Addressing the some of the fears citizens have expressed about these huge AI data centers and the sheer amount of land, power and water which is staggering.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello and welcome in to another edition of The Truth. Behind the Truth. My name is Jonathan Prell, and as always, we appreciate your time. And of course, on the Truth Behind the Truth, we like to deal with controversial issues. Anything that is even remotely controversial, we're going to want to talk about. Maybe we can solve the problem. Maybe we can't. Maybe we'll just have to leave it to somebody else. But the key thing is to at least talk about it, get it out there, and see where we stand as a country, as a people, or maybe as a planet. And that being said, one of the biggest concerns right now that people have, especially in this country, is the incredibly rapid growth of these AI data centers that are popping up all over the United States and around the world. And it's causing global concerns, not just here in the US, but global concerns. And the concerns generally fall into a couple of different categories. But before we get into the categories, let's talk about some of the facts surrounding these AI data centers. If you've ever seen one, or, you know, they're the they're typically part of semiconductor plants and things like that. If you've ever seen one, they are absolutely ginormous. And they are also incredibly ugly when you see them from the outside because you have all this open land, and then right in the middle of this land is this gargantuan structure. And generally the AI data centers will be as small as 100,000 square feet, but they could be as large as 10 million square feet. Now let's break that down into acreage, okay? 100,000 square feet would be roughly 2.3 acres of land required to build that data center. Now, if we're talking more along the lines of 10 million square feet, that's a whole different animal. That is roughly 229 acres of required land to optimally operate these AI data centers. And it's got people really, really nervous. And again, not just in the U.S., but around the world. Now, in the United States, some of the primary concern is in the Southwest and any place where there's a tremendous amount of rural land. People are already talking about this. There are energy concerns because these AI systems require enormous amounts of computing power. I mean, I cannot even begin to tell you how much power these things are going to require. In fact, they could conceivably consume as much electricity as a small city. And that leads to people worrying about increased strain on things like the local power grids, perhaps the higher cost of electricity and utilities overall for residents and in particular for businesses and new construction of natural gas plants to support the AI infrastructure. Now, another primary area of concern with these things is water usage because these things require, they are water-cooled systems, and the cooling system is absolutely vital to the AI data center. And it takes hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of gallons of water to run these things. And if you're in some of the more drought-prone regions of the United States, that could cause concern with large withdrawals from local water supplies and also the competition that it could create with agriculture, uh, residential needs, and it could also lead to limited public disclosure of actual water consumption. And that's something that people are really concerned about. How accurate is the reporting going to be? But these things are popping up all over the United States. And as fast as they can build them, they're building them. Now, in most cases, they're able to get the land. But what's going to happen, you know, we still have a lot of people in this country, especially in the American Southwest and even parts of the Midwest and, you know, places like that. We we still have a lot of people in this country who own tremendous amounts of land. They own huge plots of land, they own ranches that have been uh in their family for generations, decades, if not centuries. And they're worried that if they are approached for their land to be sold for one of these AI data centers, if they say no, they're worried about what ramifications could that bring me? Am I ever going to run into a problem with eminent domain where the government is going to step in and say, hey, this is necessary. We're going to take your land from you. This is how much we're going to give you for it. But it probably wouldn't have been, or probably wouldn't be, as much as it would have been had you agreed to sell it. But that's that's a big concern, which is why the title of this episode is Are these AI data centers, are they a land grab or are they something else? Maybe something worse. And the reason people are concerned about it is because of the sheer speed at which these things are growing up. Now, AI in general, you know, we've talked a little bit about that in past episodes, how AI and the AI race is critical for the United States to win that race. And currently, we are leading the way with AI. Now, not in every category, China leads in certain areas, but the U.S., as far as the production of semiconductors, you know, for example, the U.S. leads that. And it it would be imperative for us to continue with that. Uh, we need to win the AI race because what regardless of how you feel about AI, AI is the future. And it's already a very, very scary thing. I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm, I mean, I'm always, I'm always one of these people who wants to hope for the best, but prepares for the worst. I know that doesn't necessarily mean I'm a pessimist, but I always prepare for the worst. So if these things are becoming an issue, we have to look at why they're going to become an issue. Now, one of the questions with regard to land ownership and the potential for that land to be taken from a landowner either through a sale or God forbid, through eminent domain, where the government basically comes in and takes your property. But one of the things that has concerned a lot of people in these areas, what, if any, presence does China have? And are any of these AI data centers owned by China? Well, I can tell you, unequivocally, right now anyway, that none of the AI data centers in this country are owned by China, mainly because the U.S. restricts foreign ownership of any critical infrastructure and controls the deployment, as we mentioned a few minutes ago, of advanced AI semiconductors. So China, right now, in terms of our land and owning land, is not a problem. Now, you have heard stories, especially over the last five years, about more and more of these farms and ranches in smaller areas or ones that are either close to nuclear military bases or just regular military bases. Uh, that you've got these Chinese entities that are coming in and buying up this land all around those facilities. And still a legitimate concern, but as of right now, we are in full control of our AI data centers. And hopefully, hopefully, it's going to stay that way. But that doesn't ease the tension that people feel about this very important issue. And some of the local community concerns, I mean, there are a ton, but some of the biggest ones are noise from the cooling equipment. I mean, you can only imagine if you're running millions of gallons of water through a 10 million square foot facility, good Lord. And then the visual impact of large industrial buildings. In other words, these things are big, they're plain, and they're ugly. And they're also concerned about, you know, increased truck traffic, uh, especially during construction of these places, uh, and reduced property tax benefits compared with the amount of land that is actually being used. And a lot of people feel that a lot of these decisions are made too quickly without sufficient local input. Now, in some of the areas where they're putting these data centers, they have invited the public to attend the city council meeting to express their concerns. But some of those have completely gone off the rails lately. I forget where there was one a couple of weeks ago, forgive me, but I can't remember exactly what state it was in. But these residents who are getting an AI data center, they noticed all the earth movers and the construction equipment starting to move in and the dirt was being moved. And they said, Hey, what's going on? And that's when they learned of an AI data center. And when they started complaining about it, the leader of the city council basically said, Stop, okay, we are not going to debate this. This is not going to get heated. You all need to grow up and accept it. Now, can you imagine that? Now, if you're told that in a city council meeting where all you want to do is get answers to the concerns that you have, you're being told to grow up. See, now that's kind of scary. And to the extent that that kind of gives you a clue and a little bit of insight as to how government, whether it be local, county, federal, how they feel about how people are going to feel about these things in their backyards. In other words, they don't care. And that statement by that city council member would certainly be indicative of that. Now, you even have national security issues and also infrastructure because these things are so stinking big. But there are some strategic concerns that the data centers are becoming critical, national infrastructure. That could be a problem. Don't know if it is, only time will tell. Because what you're doing is you're concentrating large amounts of computing power in just a few regions, and that can create all kinds of vulnerabilities, especially in terms of natural resources. Now, foreign ownership is not really a problem right now, but they do worry about that. There are people that are concerned about that. They're concerned about cybersecurity and uh that grid resilience have become major, major policy questions. Now, some of the economic benefits, some would argue, if there are any, it would create a huge amount of construction jobs. There would be property tax revenue, infrastructure improvements in and around where that AI data center is going to go, technological investment. But the problem is, in terms of the local economy, critics are saying that once these things are built, many of these data centers employ relatively few permanent workers compared with factories or office parks, you know, you know, things like that. So the jobs are going to be there. It's going to be great for the local economy, and it's going to be great for unemployment in some areas during construction of this AI plant facility. But then once it's built and open and running, then what? Do all those people lose their jobs? And when you're talking about a structure that could be as large as 10 million square feet, that's a lot of jobs that's going to be created. Now, it's it's also going to take probably a couple of years to get each one of these things up, depending on where they are, depending on what the weather conditions are like, and uh just how much land they're gonna need. There might be some areas where they want to do a particular size, but there's just not enough land available. So that's when people are worried that somebody's gonna step in, either a big tech company or the government or a combination of the two and claim imminent domain or pull off some kind of a land grab that would not be fair to the landowners. Now, I guess my question would be: are these concerns overblown? Should we not be concerned about these things? Well, I would pump the brakes on that, just a little bit, not entirely, but many of the concerns are legitimate and they're being debated right now by our regulators, uh, the utility companies, environmental groups, especially, and uh, of course, local governments. And at the same time, AI data centers are becoming as essential, it seems, to the modern economy as railroads, power plants, and telecommunications networks in earlier eras. So it's about the same thing. But any time we're dealing with technology, because I don't think that anybody truly understands what this technology is capable of. I mean, you'll hear worst-case scenarios, you hear people saying, oh, this is going to lead to all kinds of different, but I don't think we really know yet. And the problem with that is that AI continues to grow. The very creators who have been behind AI for all these years, these experts, they are all very concerned that the technology is changing too fast. And that they, as the creators of the thing, cannot keep up because it is just moving so fast. The AI is learning, learning, and learning. And that could lead to another concern that people want to know: are we going to lose control of everything because of artificial intelligence? Will we not have a human government anymore? Will we have a government that is strictly run by AI? How will this affect the world? How will this affect space travel? You know, how how will it affect, how will it affect our lives moving forward as we enter this age of artificial intelligence? And I guess you can make the same argument when computers were becoming a big thing. I think a lot of people were afraid of computers initially. And of course, computers initially, my gosh, the size of a computer would take up a whole floor of a huge office building. Now you literally have a computer in the palm of your hand every single day that will allow you to do anything you want to do, even launch a podcast. But it is something that we really, really have to pay attention to. And the only thing that bothers me is the fact that these people who are supposed to be the experts and telling us why this is going to be so beneficial to us at this, and I believe that. I believe a lot of good can come out of artificial intelligence. I mean, think of diseases and things like that. Think of things like paralysis. Could we ever get to a point where AI is going to be able to create something that would remove paralysis? There's even been some talk that AI, some models have actually been able to create organs. Now, not a natural organ. It would be done on a 3D printer. So it would essentially become a device, but a device that could be implanted into the human body. So, I mean, things like that, very, very exciting. But the fact that these guys can't even keep track of how fast the technology is spreading, that is scary. And we all know that it only takes one to ruin it for everybody. In other words, you've got everybody working together with AI. We've got these AI data centers that seem to be working okay, and some of the concerns people have maybe aren't altogether true, but it's still happening. But there's going to be, and it's not a question of if, there's going to be one person who is going to look at all of that data and all of that info with regard to AI and go, wait a minute. If I just tweaked this a little bit, I could essentially begin controlling the banking industry, other financial institutions, the court system. You know, it's not that any of this is going to happen. In theory, AI could and will, there will be some incredible benefits that we're going to get from AI. But we got to make sure, just like anything else in the world, that it doesn't get into the wrong hands. The last thing that we want AI to do is to be weaponized against us. And that's what I'm afraid of. I mean, how often do we see things, new technologies that are created, and to some degree they're used to as as weapons against us to get information that they need, to find more information about us, whatever the case may be. But uh it is something that has to be looked at. And these AI data centers, there are not a tremendous amount of them right now, mainly because they're so sophisticated and they take so long to build, but they are starting to pop up everywhere. And I think people are right to be concerned. Unfortunately, all we can do is attend city council meetings. And I think it's incredibly disingenuous and unfair for a town, a county, a state to decide that they're gonna build one of these behemoths in some part of their city or some part of their state, and they're just gonna go ahead and start doing it, and they're not gonna let the local residents know because these things are going to infect the uh, I'm sorry, affect the environment. There's no question about that. Now, how much it's gonna negatively impact the environment, I don't think anybody truly knows the answer to that, how it's going to benefit our environment. I don't think there are clear answers on that yet. But the whole thing about AI and these data centers, they're kind of scary. They're really big, as I mentioned. These things are just huge, you know, not all of them. And what they're capable of doing and the pull on natural resources, that's just something that I want to make sure there are going to be checks and balances on. And I want to make sure the American people have input on this, in particular in areas where these AI data centers are going to be built. And be honest about it. Don't tell the residents when they express a concern, don't tell them to grow up. Answer their question. Your job as a leader in any community, whether it's a small community or the nation, you are to have the best interest of those people first and foremost. That's your primary concern, is making sure that no one's going to get hurt in this. And there has to be a level of transparency because we live in a world now where nobody trusts anybody. For any reason, nobody is trusted. But there has to be some sort of system for accountability if things. Go off the rails somewhere. And I think that's something you know that'll probably happen. But it's just something that is getting a lot of conversation right now and could get a lot more. Uh the key policy challenge, in my opinion, would be balancing economic and technological competitiveness. Are you going to be able to eliminate the competitor? Another key policy challenge would be, well, reliable and affordable energy. And that's all we're hearing about right now is affordable energy. Gotta have, you know, we've got to get the utility prices down. You're also looking at uh policy challenges from an environmental aspect, which I think is probably going to be one of the biggest challenges, the environment. Because most of the time, these environmentalists who scream about this kind of thing, I think more often than not, they over-exaggerate everything. But in this case, I truly believe that the environmental groups in this country expressing their concerns about this might actually be on to something. I do think that they have a legitimate concern. And they're going to be asking questions. And not only are they going to be asking questions, they're going to be demanding answers. And they're going to know when they're being lied to. So the minute you start to kind of speak in very general terms, nothing's real specific, that's a concern. There has to be transparency in this, as there should be with anything. So answer the questions. Don't tell people to grow up, alleviate their concerns. That's your primary job, anyway, for crying out loud. So why should that even be an issue? But the debate, as it stands right now, is beginning to shift from whether or not AI data centers should be built, because they're going to be built, but to where they should be built, how they should be powered exactly, and who, and this is a big one, and who should bear the costs and receive the benefits. Just something to think about. That's what we do here on The Truth Behind the Truth. We look at everything. In fact, in future episodes, you know, we have a few things coming up in future episodes. Uh there's an awful lot, and with the college football season just getting ready to start, there is a lot of talk and a lot of controversy around the upcoming college football season with players getting paid, whatnot. You know, we're we're going to have several issues there. We're also going to take a look at the UFO phenomenon, or I'm sorry, the UAP phenomenon, only because it it's gotten very interesting. And I think for the first time in decades, you know, people are actually talking about that. You actually have military people who were involved and told not to say anything decades ago, to where now they're coming forward and they're saying, yeah, you know, here we and a lot of what were previously classified files are being declassified. So it is getting very, very interesting as far as that is concerned. And then maybe we can finally start looking at, you know, whether or not we're alone in the universe or not. And here's my take on that, like it or not, but my take on that, when you look at us as a people on this planet, are we alone? I think it's almost kind of arrogant to think that we could be the only intelligent life in the universe. And more importantly, if we are the most intelligent life in the universe, that does not bode well for our universe. So we're going to be talking about things like that as well. But we appreciate your time. And again, I keep mentioning it, but we're running into a couple of uh glitches. We are going to have an email address, which is going to be available very, very soon. So just stick with us and I will get that out there to you just as quick as I can, and we can start having some one-on-one interaction. And again, as long as we keep it respectful, that's fine. We can debate, and oh, we can get fiery, but it's just got to stay respectable. So we'll talk about that in future episodes. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Jonathan Prell, and this is the truth. Behind the truth. We'll see you.