The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Aug. 27, edition that Ontario has released a new Data Centre Playbook to guide artificial intelligence datacentre development while addressing community and activist concerns.
The Globe's guest columnists Kathleen Kauth and Tyler Hamilton report that in recent months, there have been protests against these massive facilities.
Stopthedatacentre.ca lists 27 municipalities where its campaigns are currently active. Sixty-eight per cent of Canadians say they would oppose a large AI data centre near their home.
The guest columnists say Ottawa's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy lacks a unified approach that encourages community support for construction and a way to fund research on best practices and requirements. Without a datacentre development strategy, the National AI Strategy will continue to face costly delays. Residents are concerned that data centres will tax local electrical grids and water resources, raise electricity rates, increase GHG emissions, and generate noise and air pollution, potentially affecting property values. Underlying these worries is anxiety about the concentration of wealth and control among technology billionaires, which is at historic highs.
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