Asbestos was once considered a miracle substance—a wonder of the modern age, due in large part to its role in stopping the fires that once plagued every major city. The enthusiasm for it in the 19th century was so great that it was overlooked that there was ancient evidence that those who worked with it didn’t live long. Today, asbestos removal is an expensive endeavour.
Currently, we are talking about AI and the need for data centres. Are they a blessing or curse?
Nobody can tell for certain at this stage, but what we do know is that new data centres are being built around the world. When people depended on local storage on their computers, the first cloud storage for data files promised complete independence. No need to carry an extra USB stick around, no need to remember backing up data – and switching devices becomes easy as the data is not actually stored on the device anymore.
What is the ‘cloud’? Sometimes people forget that it is a network of physical back-up servers somewhere in the world guaranteeing 24/7 access to the data.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) also relies on physical infrastructure, and as AI requires uninterrupted access to the data to connect the dots and do their ‘magic’, backup infrastructures are required in addition and equally need space.
Data centres for AI store, process and distribute digital information. Three conditions are crucial for these centres: power, cooling and operation, and they have to be continuous and constant. Hence the need for backup infrastructure to make sure the system doesn’t fail.
In this context it is also important to have a vast network of data centres around the world. If there was a natural or a man-made disaster and one of the centres is damaged or disrupted, other centres need to continue working.
In the 1940s and 1950s, computer systems were filling rooms for a computing performance that can be carried out by tiny devices today.
Are we heading towards a similar development? Are we destroying huge areas of land with heavy infrastructure, while burdening local residents and environments with the risk of polluting the water, air and sound – only to find out that in a few years we will have more compact and locally stored backups for most of the general AI applications?
The BBC quoted Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas with “One day the mighty data centre could be toppled into obsolescence by the humble smartphone”. Keeping in mind that it takes years to build a data centre, if Srinivas is correct, we will see some centres outdated before they are completed. What will happen with abandoned sites or unused data centres? Who will invest in a re-use of the facilities, a potential reforestation and cleaning up?
People around the world who live close to new data centres complain that they were not consulted or informed. They ask for transparency and accountability.
Pope Leo XIV reminds us in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas of our responsibility (#181): “the Social Doctrine of the Church calls for a shared responsibility. It asks that these processes be guided with foresight: by institutions capable of regulating without stifling, and protecting without taking over; by businesses that recognize work and dignity as measures of success; by intermediary organizations and educational communities that rebuild trust and relationships; and by citizens who cultivate responsibility, moderation, discernment and a sense of truth. Only in this way can innovation genuinely serve integral human development, rather than becoming a source of exclusion and dominance. And only in this way can the promise of progress be recognized as authentic, because it is measured against the inviolable dignity of every man and woman.”
BM
