The discussion remains controversial depending on the location. Generally, data centers located in rural isolation do not seem to be too controversial. However, data centers built in proximity to population centers stimulate a great deal of opposition.
Recently New York state banned the building of Data Centers as politicization of the construct has become somewhat of a Right/Left divide. President Trump notes the importance of data centers:
(VIA TRUTH SOCIAL) – One of the biggest Driving Forces in the Future for Jobs, are Data Centers. They are big, strong, bold, and Money Machines for the State in which they are built. Governor Kathy Hochul, for political reasons, has terminated all Data Centers being built, or to be built, in New York State. These Companies are now being sought in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other States. Both the Taxes and the Jobs amount to LIQUID GOLD! New York State has made a terrible decision.
All of this Income, and other Benefits, will be going to Red States, and some Blue, where Data Centers are sought as Cash Cows, with Lower Taxes and Record Setting Jobs. They must pay for their own Water and Power, and any leftover goes back to the State and local Community. Data Centers are tremendous WINS for the States and Communities that are lucky enough to get them. New York should change its Policy, IMMEDIATELY. The Radical Left Dumocrats must not be allowed to cause us to lose Data Centers, AI, and all of this incredible new Technology, to China, and other countries!”
The hardware side of the Data Center expansion is leading to increased revenue for raw material providers, chip makers, computer systems, fabrication shops, electrical components and construction.
At the same time, the software side LLM builders and AI companies are trying to figure out how to make stable profitability within the sector.
CTH watches the tokenization and subscription fees for various AI model use with the same perspective CTH viewed over a decade of false claims within the financial market that told lies about social media viability and data processing costs.
Now, we watch the seemingly exponential growth of AI capabilities and associated costs with the same pragmatic perspective.
Robotic pool cleaners were introduced two generations ago. Did the pool cleaner business dry up? No, it expanded.
Robotic vacuums broke into the popular household appliance market five years ago, you probably have one, did it eliminate maid services? No, still growing.
AI can now write its own code to generate outputs. Are software developers getting fired? No, demand for software designers and engineers is up.
The mainframe approach, the one AI brain to run all systems, will never work – it is cost prohibitive (see first paragraph – wash, rinse, repeat). Deny this reality at your own investment risk. If needed, politely absorb the ridicule – for it matters not.
CTH predicts AI will become a localized and optimized sub-set for each sector of the economy, requiring each major organization and corporation to adopt specific cost/benefit data libraries and networks for use and functionality.
At scale, a thousand coders each working on Gemini, ChatGPT, Anthropic, Fabian, Grok, etc. will become 100,000+ software designers working inside individual companies to create personalized, targeted, bespoke AI data systems and networks; each system specifically tailored to the industry or sector of business. The intranet of internets will happen again.
Creating and selling AI system networks and integration functions that are personally tailored to highly specific company functions, creates an entirely new sector of the technology industry that has not even begun yet. [There’s an investment opportunity there]
Will AI robots replace some repetitive human functions? Yes, the ice rink Zamboni will likely not have a steering wheel, just an emergency joystick. A reference for a comparative industrial scale Roomba vacuum, or the robotic pool cleaners.
However, at scale the robotic industry is slower than human efficiency in almost all sectors that matter; the cost benefit analysis will limit growth. The maid service sector will not be impacted any more than the software developers.
It is not an issue to fear some AI task efficiencies will grant more time available that will be filled with alternate task capabilities. Human productivity will increase in certain sectors of the economy, but humans will not lose work opportunities. Blue collar jobs will continue to expand as each of the hardware tools developed will need manufacturing, installation, maintenance and monitoring.
The further downstream the worker is from a repetitive function within the [XXXX] industry, the more irreplaceable they become.
As to the bigger picture of fully developed AI and the intersection of information and knowledge; yes, the automation of AI can present an issue. However, all AI concerns can be mitigated so long as multiple, alternative AI systems exist within the larger information realm.
As a nation we need dozens of different AI models each competing within the industry for the best AI product.
As long as we have multiple AI systems, alternatives to the hive-mind, we do not need to fear the AI network as a source of information. If we don’t like the AI outputs, we can switch to an alternate AI provider.
If the subscription cost of the AI is too high, then as long as we have a competitive market where a lesser expensive, perhaps bespoke AI option can exist, we should be okay. Let the free-and-fair market decide.
If AI outputs don’t offer empirical truth or real value to the end user, we should be fine as long as consumers have alternative options available. AI providers should be information providers in the same concept as cell phone providers. The key is to have multiple, competing AI systems available for industrial, business, professional and personal use.
On the upside of this information worry dynamic -in the pragmatic and optimistic perspective- we have the cost limiting nature of a massive singular AI information network.
A single AI central brain handling over 360 million users at once, all requiring identical responses that update with every tiny change in a multi-trillion datapoint-per-millisecond data stream, is far beyond the capacity of any computational AI system. The costs tied to such a setup are only now becoming clear, and AI business models are starting to fall apart in real time. This is a hard truth that isn’t going to change.
Within the AI business, those who can carefully write AI input instructions to achieve maximum value in AI output -industry by industry- will become increasingly more valuable.
Those who can train AI to be cost effective -and provide materially beneficial outputs- within their granular sector of business, within each company, will become priceless to the organization. Wage rates will follow competency.
The one key issue about AI to emphasize is the need for multiple competing models. If China (hive mind) has their model, and Europe (another hive mind) has their model, and the United States (entrepreneurial competitiveness) has multiple competitive models – we will win the AI race and simultaneously we will retain freedom.
What we don’t want is a singular AI model to win the support of the United States government and then end up with an AI regulatory system where the govt starts defining terms of “safety” to eliminate information adverse to the interests of the government that regulates it. Both China and Europe will predictably do that.


I have a hard time believing that all this data collection is for my benefit, it’s all for surveillance
I use Cowork for my business and am in love with AI for what I do. Restarting my business after Biden and my illness has been significantly better with AI. I love Claud. This whole week I have been in training with about 2000 recruiters from around the world discussing AI.
AI in and of itself is a library
The Quality of the query is the key to data retrieval
True and honed curiosity is now a powerful asset
The ability to draft a query and validate the findings is a force multiplier
As to job loss
Any jobs requiring critical thinking are safe
Critical thinking and physical demands nearly irreplaceable
__________
As to data harvest and sale from, phones, vehicles, wi Fi etc etc
Privacy will become extremely difficult
Be careful whose phone your phone is around. . .
Sadly, job security is the least the obstacles
Freedom of movement. . .
Will be in short supply for any who do not operate in trust
Here in Michigan the issue has been the state giving these Data Centers water hook ups, electricity, etc for very reduced costs. Yet the utilities have been authorized to hike rates out the wazoo for consumer hookups and use. All the while these industrial size computers get the service for 5-10% of what Joe consumer pays. This doesn’t even take into account the tax abatements that are being granted left and right by our resident Socialists.
Bingo.
The same is happening in Ohio. My electric bill has already nearly doubled. Tax abatements granted. Environmental concerns re: water, noise pollutions are not being addressed. NDAs signed w/o community involvement. We are not convinced that We the People will benefit from this.
Don’t know anything about site requirements for data centers, but that’s why he wants Greenland, I’ll bet; and, it has natural cooling.
What did we do to create jobs before data centers and why can’t we do that today? Data centers are a bunch of B.S. Possibly the next Solyndra.
Dot Com bubble = AI bubble
One of the many dirty little secrets these greedy bastards don’t want you to know about, Wyoming dealing with deadly bacteria from data ctr waste: https://futurism.com/health-medicine/meta-ai-data-center-pathogen-bacteria-water
May God remove our enemies within who threaten our national / health security, our sovereignty, and manipulate The President…
I thought that was a temperature map because it feels that hot right now
So, Sundance,
What are your thoughts regarding States “regulating” AI? It has become a campaign issue in Florida.
What about (protecting) “the children”?
Thx,
ML&R,
skipper
Power Consumption is one of the main objections to data centers in cities. Behind the meter on site power generation could overcome those objections, and actually lower rates for residents, buying any excess power produced by the data center.
Thank you for eloquently, as always, capsulizing the issues of concern to many and illuminating a path forward.
I have seen similar discussions on podcasts, mainly All In, and fully agree with the diversified AI models.
Centralization of anything usually has bad results
“Recently New York state banned the building of Data Centers as politicization of the construct has become somewhat of a Right/Left divide.”
In the past decade, we lost 3 coal fired plants just in WNY. They were in Dunkirk (on Lake Erie), Tonawanda (on the upper Niagara River) and in Somerset (on Lake Ontario).
The Somerset plant was razed and in it’s place there are five data centers going up. My brother delivers rental equipment there. He believes the rush to get them up is before they are required to supply their own power.
Hochul halts new data center approvals via executive order
“…The order excludes any data centers used for manufacturing, academic research, medical care, or any facilities majority-owned by public institutions and used for research purposes, like the Empire AI project…”
“…According to the New York Independent System Operator, the push for corporate AI projects have triggered over 30 proposals for new data centers, which could overwhelm the state’s aging electric grid. All told, as of May, developers had requested nearly 12,000 megawatts of new power.
Out of those 12 gigawatts, potential data centers seek 9 gigawatts—about a third of the total energy consumed statewide every year, according to Democratic State Senator Kristen Gonzalez. Joined the governor for the signing ceremony in New York City on Tuesday morning, she said, “This gold rush for electricity comes after New York experienced a 44% increase in residential rates between 2020 and 2025, above the national rate increase of 32%.”…”
https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/hochul-halts-new-data-center-approvals-via-executive-order/
Similar to the Constitutional Republic our Founders designed…
Relying on a single, monolithic AI model creates systemic fragility. – Federal gov’t.
A diverse ecosystem, composed of many independent AIs (the States) designed for specific contexts, mitigates the risk of uniform failure and reduces the “filter bubble” effect where users are trapped in cognitive isolation tyranny.
Given what some communities have reported about these data centers (ie water issues, constant noise, 24/7 light emanating from them, the excess heat coming from them, the eyesore), hot and drought-stricken places should be off limits even if the area is rural.
Who determines what qualifies as drought conditions?
Well, when the citizens are told year after year to conserve water, that’s a good reason not to build these in that state.
Aren’t those places the same ones where waivers are granted to big business so they can ignore it?
Technology Life Cycle:
Year 1): It’s invented
Year 2): It’s illegal
Year 5): It’s dangerous and needs to be regulated
Year 20): It’s a human right and needs to be free
So…..Where are we in this cycle with the data centers? How long before politicians campaign on bringing a data center to their district so they can boast about the “money and jobs it brings to their constituents”?
It is made illegal until the corruptacrats can make money from it by regulating it.
I was hearing about California or other proposing to tax streaming services and internet downloads.
They then create a regulatory board and put their spouses, kids, in-laws on it.
Data centers should be required to purify 100% of their waste water and contribute to desalinization projects.
Amen brother. There really is no choice but to jump on board or get left behind. That isn’t a choice. The biggest downside that I see is hardware prices and availability for consumers. RAM and SSD’s are off the charts right now. GPU’s have stabilized to some degree, but really haven’t recovered from the crypto-mining boom.
AI is similar to wind farms -large emplyment to build then everyone leaves and there are three people in the control building for the remainder. DC will not be any different. Don’t be hoodwinked – it’s about trillions of $ at stake by a few elites who will mop up and leave the proles with a large bag of excrement.
Sounds like Solyndra to me.
I actually had the opportunity to correct Google AI several months ago when checking on corrugated design specifics. (I used to do that back in the day). AI found that I was correct, and was appreciative of the correction. That was a very strange feeling to have a computer program thank you for that!
It also means you can’t trust AI to be correct.
The true cost of data centers is our freedom. That is too much to pay.
Of course he does
Hochul is an IDIOT. Where does she think the DRAM chips are going to be used…
“Micron is building a massive, $250-billion semiconductor “megafab” campus at the White Pine Commerce Park in Clay, New York, to produce leading-edge DRAM chips. The project includes up to four fab modules spanning 20 years, with the initial fab anticipated to be fully operational in 2030.The Clay, NY campus will play a critical role in Micron’s long-term goal of producing 40% of its DRAM domestically by the 2040s. The monumental Central New York project is accelerating, with initial concrete pouring underway.”
I predict that going forward, Red States will be in a good position to grow their data center inventory. Blue states, on the other hand, will start to suffer their decision(s) to phase out fossil fuel based energy plants without having a valid replacement. This has, already, occurred in NY. They phased out so many energy plants that since 2019 they’ve lost over 1.5 gigawatts of their energy reserve. This caused the Governor of NY to put a one year moratorium on any new data centers. California, Illinois etc. will have the same problem. They don’t have the reserves, and have no plans or ability to accomodate the growth.
I hope red states burn them to the ground. I don’t say this to be inflammatory. Simply NIMBY. There will become a parallel economy for those of us not worshipping at the teet of tech and money. I often picture Sundances photo of the mega city with folks outside it using old school windmills and water wheels, horses and buggies, etc. Data centers are part and parcel to their plans, and WE are the data.
i have recently asked AI lots of different questions that it either, A…doesn’t know the answer…B..pretends it has no idea what I’m asking it..C..outright lies to me. If you ask follow-up questions, it will tell me there’s no site or articles written on such subject.
NIMBY. NIMBY. NIMBY
Oh, and NOT IN MY BACKYARD!
AI is the single biggest spiritual threat to humanity since Eve handed Adam that apple.
I see what you did there. 😉
AI has no ability to “do” anything that requires physical effort. The actual, physical, effort it takes to build anything is left to a human who possess the necessary skill to do the job. Without them AI is useless.
The primary issue with data centers is the energy required to power them. We already have brown outs and blackouts during periods of high demand and the data centers are taxing an already over-extended power grid.
The Left’s solution is de-industrialization and wind mills. DJT’s solution is full steam ahead. One would hope that we could meet somewhere in the middle, but with rampant TDS, not to mention hard core Marxism afflicting the Left, the likelihood of compromise lies somewhere between slim and none.
Clarification – “Creating and selling AI system networks and integration functions that are personally tailored to highly specific company functions, creates an entirely new sector of the technology industry that has not even begun yet. [There’s an investment opportunity there]”
This has begun. I’ve seen numerous industry specific AI apps offered to my company and in the marketplace. Example, circuit.ai provides AI app on exclusive technical manuals for repair industry.
I think the lobbying against AI data centers is funded by PRC to slow the US down. That’s my opinion.
I have a roofing and construction business. They are even coming for us.
“What we don’t want is a singular AI model to win the support of the United States government and then end up with an AI regulatory system where the govt starts defining terms of “safety” to eliminate information adverse to the interests of the government that regulates it. Both China and Europe will predictably do that.”
Everything that Sundance said rings true. His track record for honesty and accuracy/truth is impeccable.
My big question, based on the last paragraph of Sundance’s post, is this:
How long will it take for the owner of a “singular AI model” to purchase a President, multiple powerful Senators and Representatives, the CIA, and the FBI?
When “trillions are at stake,” it’s not difficult to imagine several billionaire owners of several AI models combining their technology and resources into one singular model-and then coaxing the above mentioned UniParty Deep State functionaries-for-hire to jump in bed with them.
I have no illusions about the future of AI in the hands of Big Tech partnered with Big Government. Censorship, unlimited surveillance, the shredding of the Constitution…all of that and more is on the table.
And truthfully, there’s not a damn thing any of us can do to stop it. The die is cast.
We must put our faith in Jesus Christ. Pray continually that God would bless and protect us in these uncertain times. His promises are true.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”—Psalm 23:4
Nope. SD and trump are on the wrong side of this. There is no middle ground, or good side of this. Yes, I saw SD write “what we don’t want…”. I could care less about any and all perceived economic benefits. WE are the data to be harvested, and tracked. Then ultimately controlled, if we allow it. Any power we give up will ultimately be used against us.
Pull the ridiculous veil from your eyes!
What wee have to be careful of is we get a D RAT President and D RAT congress, what controls will they implement on AI to hurt the citizens.
Our beautiful land has been made ugly by solar panels and windmills. Now these extremely ugly data centers which are NOT needed will ruin more of our landscape.
FRACTAL TECHNOLOGY is the ANSWER
As sundance says
there are TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS AT STAKE….
no one will expose the fraud that these data centers are needed….they will lose too much money!!!!
Colour me sceptical.
Why?
It seems the focus is, at this moment, on all the wonderful life enhancing, labour saving aspects of AI and the Data Centres needed to store the “data”.
I have yet to hear the downsides….beyond what others have listed on this thread so far, and which must be considered for a thorough, honest evaluation.
What sort of “data” for a start. Who or what entities (future governments which mean to control and tyrannize?) will have access to it, and what will it be used for? See the “Patriot” Act for why I am asking…
For example, ubiquitous Flock cameras are gathering all sorts of “data”. Stored in these centres no doubt.
So sudden is the explosion of myriad ” data” centres in every crevice of America, in historical terms, almost overnight.
It’s happening, so my little concerns about the direction all this is going at speed matters not one whit.
I’m just thinking…and asking.
President Trump won’t be president forever.
(Click on to the link below and check out the Flock logo in green. Looks like a tree (of Liberty?) has been…pruned. Brickbats cheerfully accepted.)
https://www.flocksafety.com/brand-partner-guide
For your consideration as long as we’re having this discussion.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/while-political-circus-distracts-us-flock-builds-digital-police-state
Trump opened the door to medical tyranny when he declared the flu a national security emergency. He didn’t push the medical tyranny, said we needed right to choose. But he opened the door.
That the medical tyrants (both R &D) walked right through. And mandated prison-inspired lockdowns, muzzle slave masks and unsafe and ineffective injections.
NONE of which could’ve happened if Trump didn’t open that door, even though he didn’t walk through it.
Sames AI Data Centers. Opening the door to 24/7 digital surveillance and population control information processing system. All-of-society citizen monitoring collection, aggregation and processing capability. Able to take all feeds of independent information, data, visual, audio, Flock, Ring, beach/ski/surveillance cams, transaction cams at retail counters, credit card activity, in-car surveillance of drivers, passengers, FitBits, cell phone, Siri active listening, library activity, online use, keystrokes, travel, everything, all captured now, too much to make useful with existing hardware and technology. Usefulness problem solved with AI Data Centers.
Trump won’t walk through that door he is opening. But the tyrants who follow him – on left and right – will try. 100%. There is no way to prevent, short of never opening the door. All of the guardrails WILL collapse just as they did during Scamdemic. Matter of when, not if.
All for something we don’t want.