Data Centres – Fracking All Over Again? AI Gold Rush or Bubble?
Data centre operators are circling our abundant renewables. Potentially bringing massive investment, and likely some jobs — but also ecological concerns, energy competition with households, and the risk of backing tomorrow’s obsolete technology. Should Scotland seize the opportunity to become Europe’s AI powerhouse, or are we chasing the next tech bubble? Is it fracking all over again?
We join campaign group Pensioners for Independence at the Bacchus Bar in Glasgow to find out more. Dr Craig Dalzell, Head of Policy at the Scottish think-tank and activist group, Common Weal, unpacks the real economics behind the hype: Can Scotland afford to pass this up? Or are we about to cover our landscape with massive infrastructure for an industry that could collapse faster than it arrived?
Craig’s slides: Scroll to see the slides or download the PDF file
Key topics:
- 02:17 Why do they want AI?
- 05:25 What are data centres?
- 10:25 The AI bubble
- 12:19 Why so many data centres?
- 14:47 What will AI be useful for?
- 21:09 Who owns the data centres?
- 24:18 Digital sovereignty
- 27:33 How to regulate a data centre
- 32:08 Will Scotland rein AI in?
- 33:40 Commonweal’s prospectus for Scotland
- 34:44 Audience Q+A
- Watch the video of this podcast on our YouTube Channel
- Find out more about Commonweal’s crowdfunder
- Bella Caledonia article: Where are we in the fight against hyperscale data centres?
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