This is the first of a series of interviews of people in the “anti Gen AI space” for Stop Gen AI’s blog. To kick the series off, I interviewed Dally, who is actually a member of Stop Gen AI!
Kim Crawley: You have professional experience with datacenters. Could you explain some of that to readers?
Dally: Sure! I spent the last decade working for one of the Big Tech companies as a data analyst. The need for data centers is influenced by a technology that, frankly, is nowhere near what these companies want the general public to believe. For example, think of large language models, or LLMs, as not much more than fancy, programmed chat bots. These “AI” like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others are simply the latest in a long line of tech scams, like crypto and NFTs before them.
The explosion of datacenters is in direct response to bloated Silicon Valley wealth. These centers have net negative impact on the communities they often claim to be helping when they move in, as well. It didn’t take me long to see the correlation and become not only anti-datacenter but also anti-Gen AI overall.
Crawley: How did this how datacenter issue get started?
Dally: Citizens found out from various news and business journal reports that the city was hearing a proposal for a very secretive data center about two days before our bi-monthly city council meeting. Some people showed up in person at the night of the meeting, but the attorney for the corporation was already on a first name basis with city council. After hearing nothing but citizen concerns during the open comment portion of the meeting, city council approved the proposal immediately.
Citizens are continuing to ask basic questions that have largely gone unanswered.
Crawley: Do most of the people in your area have an aversion to a new datacenter?
Dally: There has been a significant outcry with regard to the data center, specifically. We are a town experiencing a surge of growth, but this issue particularly has people concerned. Citizens want more information so that they can make reasonable choices about their lives here, but they aren’t being provided the very basics. We don’t know who the data center is for, or even its specific initial power or water needs. There was no clear data provided as to the type of cooling that the center will use, which suggests a lack of concern for the environment, and the developer had very few reassurances with regard to extended resource utilization. Furthermore, the “corporation” (which was only founded in 2024) has received special funding and sizeable tax breaks in order to build the center despite questions and objections by the people who live here. There are major concerns that citizens will be footing the bill long term for both rising utility cost and necessary improvements to the land recommended for use.
Crawley: How can we scale up what you’re doing so we can stop as many new Gen AI datacenters as possible?
Dally: If you can, make some noise! It really might be as simple as asking questions in public forums and spaces. It’s one way to hold your local elected representatives accountable: by directly calling them out in places where other citizens can bear witness.
Get creative and make posters for your windows, or crowdfund with your neighbors to print and hand out free yard signs. I created a digital zine and shared it around the town’s social media pages, and also have a print version to be distributed to all my local businesses like the grocery, the gas stations, and even my doctor’s office.
Think about any place that everyone gathers as community members, and try to spread the message simply but effectively: NO DATA CENTERS!
It’s scary at first, but bring it up in casual conversations. Ask your neighbors/the grocery clerk/your co-worker if they’ve heard about data centers, and explain in whatever terms you’re comfortable using. Meet people where they’re at and be ready to come together as a community to push back against corporate interests when they come looking at your community!
It’s scary and big but I promise, people in your area will show up. There are major outcries against these types of power hungry structures and the mega corps who want to build them. Start small, you might be surprised how far it can go!
Crawley: Do you have anything else to add?
Dally: Just that I personally KNOW how scary it is to put yourself out there. Not everyone is going to be able to be active at the same level during these very heavily fascist times. Above all, make sure that you are engaging in meaningful ways and putting your energy towards targeted goals that match YOUR community’s needs.
Use the resources already at your disposal (Stop Gen AI is a great one!) and lean on both your physical and digital people for advice and support. Sometimes, things seem really overwhelming and that’s okay. but I promise there are folks out there who want a better world, and putting yourself out there in these small, starting ways is how you’ll find and build those groups into something much more powerful.