AI Data Centers - What Could Go Wrong?

[TimHauck 3,215]

So apparently spending on AI data centers has now surpassed that of consumer spending - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spending-ai-data-centers-massive-150110727.html

This might create some jobs in the short term, but not the long term.

It’s also driving up electricity prices - https://www.foxnews.com/tech/why-ai-causing-summer-electricity-bills-soar

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-centers-electricity-bills
 

For what?  To create dumb videos and steal our jobs?

[Strike 5,918]

Just now, TimHauck said:

So apparently spending on AI data centers has now surpassed that of consumer spending - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spending-ai-data-centers-massive-150110727.html

This might create some jobs in the short term, but not the long term.

It’s also driving up electricity prices - https://www.foxnews.com/tech/why-ai-causing-summer-electricity-bills-soar

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-centers-electricity-bills
 

For what?  To create dumb videos and steal our jobs?

Yeah, because that's ALL AI does.  

[jonnyutah 508]

1 minute ago, TimHauck said:

So apparently spending on AI data centers has now surpassed that of consumer spending - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spending-ai-data-centers-massive-150110727.html

This might create some jobs in the short term, but not the long term.

It’s also driving up electricity prices - https://www.foxnews.com/tech/why-ai-causing-summer-electricity-bills-soar

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-centers-electricity-bills
 

For what?  To create dumb videos and steal our jobs?

These data centers are stupid as hell. I hate us. 

 

[TimHauck 3,215]

6 minutes ago, Strike said:

Yeah, because that's ALL AI does.  

Serious question: what does it do that creates new human jobs and is worth the additional strain on our power grid?

[Strike 5,918]

Just now, TimHauck said:

Serious question: what does it do that creates new human jobs and is worth the additional strain on our power grid?

I never said I was the biggest fan of AI.  I think I've told people around here to slow their roll when they try to use AI to support their arguments, because AI is prone to a lot of errors.  That being said, it does a lot more than you suggested.  For instance, AI is being used to accelerate the development of drugs.   We are just touching the surface of AI and how it can help humankind.  instead of lamenting that it uses too much power, we need to be generating more power.  It's too bad we were so shortsighted and abandoned Nuclear decades ago.  If we'd kept up we'd have plenty of power.  But hey, let's just build more windmills, right?

[jonnyutah 508]

7 minutes ago, Strike said:

I never said I was the biggest fan of AI.  I think I've told people around here to slow their roll when they try to use AI to support their arguments, because AI is prone to a lot of errors.  That being said, it does a lot more than you suggested.  For instance, AI is being used to accelerate the development of drugs.   We are just touching the surface of AI and how it can help humankind.  instead of lamenting that it uses too much power, we need to be generating more power.  It's too bad we were so shortsighted and abandoned Nuclear decades ago.  If we'd kept up we'd have plenty of power.  But hey, let's just build more windmills, right?

I disagree with this wholeheartedly. 

We have no proof AI has helped develop drugs any faster. 

We also can't build our way out of this. 

Nope we dug a hole. And the problem with holes is they almost always expand. 

We should treat AI like we treat drugs. Force it to prove itself on more than just software engineers whims. Compare results over time. Study side effects. 

Instead we are like pfffftttt, who cares if your electric bill goes up! We are going to force you to take in as much AI content as possible! But trust us, it is good for humanity.

See look at this cute picture of your dead grandma with 7 fingers. Would she lie?

 

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

With the idiots that are being pumped out of universities/colleges these days, AI is almost a need for several job functions. Colleges more worried about indoctrination instead of actual learning...this is what we get. 

I work in technology and a lot of it is going the way of AI and ML (machine learning). It's being used to make things more efficient because human involvement just sucks a$$ and can take twice as long to push code, products, or anything else out to consumers. 

Is it taking jobs? Yes. But until we revisit our education system and place value on actual learning and not dumbing sh!t down to the lowest level student, even at the elemantary level, then this is the way. And....it's cheaper for companies. Fool proof, no. But most def cheaper. 

[easilyscan 988]

6 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

With the idiots that are being pumped out of universities/colleges these days, AI is almost a need for several job functions. Colleges more worried about indoctrination instead of actual learning...this is what we get. 

I work in technology and a lot of it is going the way of AI and ML (machine learning). It's being used to make things more efficient because human involvement just sucks a$$ and can take twice as long to push code, products, or anything else out to consumers. 

Is it taking jobs? Yes. But until we revisit our education system and place value on actual learning and not dumbing sh!t down to the lowest level student, even at the elemantary level, then this is the way. And....it's cheaper for companies. Fool proof, no. But most def cheaper. 

A+

[TimHauck 3,215]

AI companies account for 80% of the growth in US stocks in 2025

 

[weepaws 3,276]

39 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

With the idiots that are being pumped out of universities/colleges these days, AI is almost a need for several job functions. Colleges more worried about indoctrination instead of actual learning...this is what we get. 

I work in technology and a lot of it is going the way of AI and ML (machine learning). It's being used to make things more efficient because human involvement just sucks a$$ and can take twice as long to push code, products, or anything else out to consumers. 

Is it taking jobs? Yes. But until we revisit our education system and place value on actual learning and not dumbing sh!t down to the lowest level student, even at the elemantary level, then this is the way. And....it's cheaper for companies. Fool proof, no. But most def cheaper. 

So it’s removing humans because human involvement sucks, so to eliminate man kind is worth it. , stupidity.  

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

6 minutes ago, weepaws said:

So it’s removing humans because human involvement sucks, so to eliminate man kind is worth it. , stupidity.  

I did not say that eliminating humans is worth it; we AS humans need to be smarter about it. And that starts with education. 

But...these days, people seem more concerned about teaching our first graders that their peni$ can become a vagina rather than actual skills that they will absolutely need one day. 

Fock drag queen story hour, get someone in there that wants to teach kids about how things WORK. 

[TimHauck 3,215]

3 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

I did not say that eliminating humans is worth it; we AS humans need to be smarter about it. And that starts with education. 

But...these days, people seem more concerned about teaching our first graders that their peni$ can become a vagina rather than actual skills that they will absolutely need one day. 

Fock drag queen story hour, get someone in there that wants to teach kids about how things WORK. 

Impressive way to shoehorn trannies and drag queen story hour into a thread about AI.

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

11 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Impressive way to shoehorn trannies and drag queen story hour into a thread about AI.

You realize what elementary curriculum consists of these days, don't you? 

Probably not. 

It's not focused on learning, that's for sure. We are pushing kids through school that CAN'T READ. They cannot do math, they have very little social skills. They don't know how to emotionally regulate to get along with their peers. They are handed tablets and phones at an early age to just sit and watch YouTube videos about K Pop Demon Hunters. our children are not getting smarter and the curriculum isn't helping. Sorry if that curriculum focuses on trans-type agendas. I've yet to see an engineer in a classroom taking apart an old school computer or phone to show kids how things work...

Until this starts happening again, AI/ML will take over. 

[posty 2,797]

A lot of data centers going up, and fast, around here...

[TimHauck 3,215]

21 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

You realize what elementary curriculum consists of these days, don't you? 

 

Not “that their pen1s can become a vagina.” 

You are not a serious poster.

[nobody 2,844]

2 hours ago, TimHauck said:

Serious question: what does it do that creates new human jobs and is worth the additional strain on our power grid?

This dude would be bemoaning the ice man losing his job when refrigerators were invented.

Bro, AI is a tool.  Get on the bus or get left behind.  This is as important of a technological leap forward as the arrival of the Internet.  

It's not taking jobs.  It's making jobs easier.  When things get easier, industry doesn't contract, it expands.  

Man... You guys just insist on having opinions.  I would've thought after covid, y'all would chill out.  Would you guys just let us run things?  Every time you get involved it's just bad take after bad take adding friction to progress.

[nobody 2,844]

These dudes cried over harvard losing grant money because omg the research omg.  Meanwhile, a tool that could enable research to be fast forwarded at an exponential rate comes along and they want to hide from it in caves.  

It's just uncanny how every take is just so brutally wrong.

[nobody 2,844]

You guys don't get it.  The age of learning is about to be accelerated.  

For instance, I'm working on a project right now.  I put a link to a patent on chatgpt.  AI broke down the patent in laymen's terms for me.  I didn't understand some sections so I had it elaborate and go into detail on those sections.  

What would've taken me months researching took me hours to learn because I could target specific nuances and delve deeper until I had a depth of understanding that I was confident in.

Now it's definitely not perfect.  It's only going to be as smart as the person prompting it, but technology is about to advance at warp speed once people learn how to use it effectively.

[weepaws 3,276]

1 hour ago, TheNewGirl said:

I did not say that eliminating humans is worth it; we AS humans need to be smarter about it. And that starts with education. 

But...these days, people seem more concerned about teaching our first graders that their peni$ can become a vagina rather than actual skills that they will absolutely need one day. 

Fock drag queen story hour, get someone in there that wants to teach kids about how things WORK. 

And what programs AI, mmm? AI is simply going to be used as a quicker and more fun, and attractive way to capture.  

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

2 hours ago, TimHauck said:

Serious question: what does it do that creates new human jobs and is worth the additional strain on our power grid?

Oh we're worried about the power grid NOW...but not when they wanted to stop the sale of ALL gas powered vehicles by 2035? 

Interesting. 

 

[nobody 2,844]

You want to save the power grid?  Go use AI to develop more efficient renewable energy sources.

Oh wait.... That would take some level of critical thinking, forethought, gumption, and vision.

This is why the obama thing, talking about, "they didn't build that" referring to people who actually advance shìt was so wrong.  Because, this is exactly how the mob thinks.  Here's why we can't can't can't can't.  When they figured out how we can.

[lickin_starfish 1,991]

Data centers are crucial for the dystopian surveillance state. Data is the new currency.

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

2 minutes ago, nobody said:

You want to save the power grid?  Go use AI to develop more efficient renewable energy sources.

Oh wait.... That would take some level of critical thinking, forethought, gumption, and vision.

This is why the obama thing, talking about, "they didn't build that" referring to people who actually advance shìt was so wrong.  Because, this is exactly how the mob thinks.  Here's why we can't can't can't can't.  When they figured out how we can.

Which is what's lacking in our children who are handed phones and tablets at the age of 1 to keep them "busy" and entertained. 

[TimHauck 3,215]

23 minutes ago, nobody said:

This dude would be bemoaning the ice man losing his job when refrigerators were invented.

Bro, AI is a tool.  Get on the bus or get left behind.  This is as important of a technological leap forward as the arrival of the Internet.  

It's not taking jobs.  It's making jobs easier.  When things get easier, industry doesn't contract, it expands.  

Man... You guys just insist on having opinions.  I would've thought after covid, y'all would chill out.  Would you guys just let us run things?  Every time you get involved it's just bad take after bad take adding friction to progress.

I don’t think it’s all bad.  But I think it’s a pretty safe bet it will take more jobs than it creates. 

Also I meant for this thread to be more about the data centers specifically.   The impact on electricity prices is certainly notable.  As well as the concern that AI is basically driving the economy, if it turns out to be a bubble we’re in trouble (although clearly I presume you don’t think it’s a bubble).

[weepaws 3,276]

1 minute ago, TheNewGirl said:

Which is what's lacking in our children who are handed phones and tablets at the age of 1 to keep them "busy" and entertained. 

AI will just make it simpler , no phones or tablets needed to learn the same being taught now, that will be feed into the AI program, by people that want feed children the they now are learning on tablets and phones, just quicker, and more assuredly that they will receive it. 

[TimHauck 3,215]

4 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

Which is what's lacking in our children who are handed phones and tablets at the age of 1 to keep them "busy" and entertained. 

It’s parents that do that, not schools.

HTH

[Grace Under Pressure 146]

The thread is about AI data centers, which absolutely raise the cost of utility bills for residential customers.

Are the data centers a necessary by-product of the AI revolution? Probably. Should the costs be passed along to residential customers, who almost always have only one utility option available? Probably not. The corporations that own the data centers should be fully paying those costs. If anything, residential customers should be getting rebates if there are AI data centers sharing their power.

Re: the other topics brought up vis-a-vis education and parenting. What a bunch of nonsense, lazy, get off my lawn Fox News talking points lol. As someone who spends a lot of time with actual high school and college age students, these kids are smart, thoughtful, and are operating at a high level in Math and Science. Maybe don’t base your world view on your local trailer park home schooled kids. They’re probably going to be ditch diggers anyway.

[easilyscan 988]

On 10/6/2025 at 4:37 PM, TheNewGirl said:

You realize what elementary curriculum consists of these days, don't you? 

Probably not. 

It's not focused on learning, that's for sure. We are pushing kids through school that CAN'T READ. They cannot do math, they have very little social skills. They don't know how to emotionally regulate to get along with their peers. They are handed tablets and phones at an early age to just sit and watch YouTube videos about K Pop Demon Hunters. our children are not getting smarter and the curriculum isn't helping. Sorry if that curriculum focuses on trans-type agendas. I've yet to see an engineer in a classroom taking apart an old school computer or phone to show kids how things work...

Until this starts happening again, AI/ML will take over. 

You are an island of reality in an ocean of diarrhea.

Keep fighting the good fight!

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

1 hour ago, easilyscan said:

You are an island of reality in an ocean of diarrhea.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Thanks...I think.... 

[WhiteWonder 2,886]

On 10/6/2025 at 7:19 PM, Grace Under Pressure said:

The thread is about AI data centers, which absolutely raise the cost of utility bills for residential customers.

Are the data centers a necessary by-product of the AI revolution? Probably. Should the costs be passed along to residential customers, who almost always have only one utility option available? Probably not. The corporations that own the data centers should be fully paying those costs. If anything, residential customers should be getting rebates if there are AI data centers sharing their power.

Re: the other topics brought up vis-a-vis education and parenting. What a bunch of nonsense, lazy, get off my lawn Fox News talking points lol. As someone who spends a lot of time with actual high school and college age students, these kids are smart, thoughtful, and are operating at a high level in Math and Science. Maybe don’t base your world view on your local trailer park home schooled kids. They’re probably going to be ditch diggers anyway.

Or your inner city minority kids 

[WhiteWonder 2,886]

On 10/6/2025 at 6:35 PM, TimHauck said:

 

Also I meant for this thread to be more about the data centers specifically.   

Then why did you almost immediately lose a question about the benefits of AI, taking human jobs?

[WhiteWonder 2,886]

On 10/6/2025 at 6:20 PM, TheNewGirl said:

Oh we're worried about the power grid NOW...but not when they wanted to stop the sale of ALL gas powered vehicles by 2035? 

Interesting. 

 

Bang

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

On 10/6/2025 at 4:19 PM, Grace Under Pressure said:

The thread is about AI data centers, which absolutely raise the cost of utility bills for residential customers.

Are the data centers a necessary by-product of the AI revolution? Probably. Should the costs be passed along to residential customers, who almost always have only one utility option available? Probably not. The corporations that own the data centers should be fully paying those costs. If anything, residential customers should be getting rebates if there are AI data centers sharing their power.

Re: the other topics brought up vis-a-vis education and parenting. What a bunch of nonsense, lazy, get off my lawn Fox News talking points lol. As someone who spends a lot of time with actual high school and college age students, these kids are smart, thoughtful, and are operating at a high level in Math and Science. Maybe don’t base your world view on your local trailer park home schooled kids. They’re probably going to be ditch diggers anyway.

Ok, Rusty. 

[TimHauck 3,215]

18 minutes ago, WhiteWonder said:

Then why did you almost immediately lose a question about the benefits of AI, taking human jobs?

Because I think that’s a relevant question particularly when factoring in the amount being spent on data centers as it relates to the total GDP of the country + the impact on electricity prices.

[TimHauck 3,215]

On 10/6/2025 at 6:20 PM, TheNewGirl said:

Oh we're worried about the power grid NOW...but not when they wanted to stop the sale of ALL gas powered vehicles by 2035? 

Interesting. 

 

Well, asking ChatGPT of course so maybe it’s wrong, but apparently a single “hyperscale” data center uses the same amount of electricity as 260,000 teslas, and there are currently almost 600 hyperscale data centers in the US.  So the current hyperscale data centers already use as much electricity as 156 million teslas, and that’s still 10 years ahead of 2035.   Not to mention I think most people figured getting rid of gasoline powered cars wasn’t going to happen anyway.

[TheNewGirl 1,611]

9 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Well, asking ChatGPT of course so maybe it’s wrong, but apparently a single “hyperscale” data center uses the same amount of electricity as 260,000 teslas, and there are currently almost 600 hyperscale data centers in the US.  So the current hyperscale data centers already use as much electricity as 156 million teslas, and that’s still 10 years ahead of 2035.   Not to mention I think most people figured getting rid of gasoline powered cars wasn’t going to happen anyway.

Ok. 

[easilyscan 988]

1 hour ago, TheNewGirl said:

Thanks...I think.... 

It was definitely a compliment, but I can see how you might not be 100% sure.

 

[Mookz 1,363]

2 hours ago, easilyscan said:

It was definitely a compliment, but I can see how you might not be 100% sure.

 

Old school kool. 

[nobody 2,844]

2 hours ago, TimHauck said:

Well, asking ChatGPT of course so maybe it’s wrong, but apparently a single “hyperscale” data center uses the same amount of electricity as 260,000 teslas, and there are currently almost 600 hyperscale data centers in the US.  So the current hyperscale data centers already use as much electricity as 156 million teslas, and that’s still 10 years ahead of 2035.   Not to mention I think most people figured getting rid of gasoline powered cars wasn’t going to happen anyway.

AI is killing the environment!  Let me use AI to formulate some argument as to why AI is worse for the environment than electric cars.

 HauckTuah, folks!!!!

[Hardcore troubadour 15,896]

Why don’t they just put solar panels at these data centers? Wouldn’t that solve the energy issues? lol