Several of those big AI data centers are planned for the Phoenix area. Which raises questions not only about where the power will come from, but also the water needed for cooling operations. Most of the water in Greater Phoenix comes from the Colorado River which is oversubscribed, meaning more demand than supply. Western water law is complex and very different from laws back east, or in the Pacific Northwest. Western water rights are based on a system of first in time, first in use. Senior water rights take precedence over junior rights, which is what these AI centers likely will have.
Native American tribes were left out of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which is being re-negotiated as it was good for just 100 years. That will change.
It drains power, water, finances, and jobs faster than it produces anything resembling real value — unless mindless AI “assistants” are your idea of value.
And that’s before we even get near AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).
The real question — the one every AI booster dodges — is brutally simple:
Once AGI is achieved, what does a machine built for efficiency do with billions of inefficient humans? Humans who consume massive resources — resources AGI could use far more efficiently.
The institutions building these systems can’t be trusted.
More importantly, the people building them can’t be trusted.
Not with data.
Not with morality.
And sure as hell not with the fate of the species.
If AGI ever becomes real, that’s the $64,000 question —
and nobody in the driver’s seat has earned the right to answer it.
Several of those big AI data centers are planned for the Phoenix area. Which raises questions not only about where the power will come from, but also the water needed for cooling operations. Most of the water in Greater Phoenix comes from the Colorado River which is oversubscribed, meaning more demand than supply. Western water law is complex and very different from laws back east, or in the Pacific Northwest. Western water rights are based on a system of first in time, first in use. Senior water rights take precedence over junior rights, which is what these AI centers likely will have.
Native American tribes were left out of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which is being re-negotiated as it was good for just 100 years. That will change.
In general, I think the IBM CEO is right.
they have the super computer
Here we go with the guessing game by some who just may have no ideas about anything out of their wheel
House
I agree. They will remove human workers. And extremely raise the average Americans electric bill to an unaffordable price.
I think Michael Burry will be right again. This time is different? Not.
AI, as it exists today, is a losing game.
It drains power, water, finances, and jobs faster than it produces anything resembling real value — unless mindless AI “assistants” are your idea of value.
And that’s before we even get near AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).
The real question — the one every AI booster dodges — is brutally simple:
Once AGI is achieved, what does a machine built for efficiency do with billions of inefficient humans? Humans who consume massive resources — resources AGI could use far more efficiently.
The institutions building these systems can’t be trusted.
More importantly, the people building them can’t be trusted.
Not with data.
Not with morality.
And sure as hell not with the fate of the species.
If AGI ever becomes real, that’s the $64,000 question —
and nobody in the driver’s seat has earned the right to answer it.