Editorial: AI Stands For “Actionless Illinois”
Illinois Data Center Regulation Bill Delayed Until Fall
After months of twiddling their thumbs, the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass the Protecting Our Water, Energy, and Ratepayers (POWER) Act by the end of the legislative session on May 31st. This bill aims to regulate Illinois data center operations to improve transparency and sustainability between company and community.
As generative AI use rises, the POWER Act is meant to temper tech companies within an otherwise largely unregulated sector by establishing oversight committees, requiring public reports on water use, and encouraging hyperscale data centers to pursue renewable energy sources. Lawmakers will supposedly use the summer to continue hearings and negotiations, then revisit the vote this fall.
Even a short delay such as this has consequences. For one, these data centers pose intense energy demands. At peak development, Illinois data centers could double the state’s current total energy demand by 2040. Costs to consumers, especially in low-income areas, are rising before the centers are even built.
As temperatures grow more extreme, I worry about these communities who won’t have adequate access to heat, air conditioning, or reliable electricity in harsh weather because someone desperately needed to generate an image of themselves as Jesus. Looking at you, Mr. President.
Water use is also a major point of contention addressed in the bill, given that 75 to 90 percent of data centers in the country use potable water for their primary cooling method. The most harm, however, occurs at the local level. Roughly 40 percent of the country’s data centers operate in communities that already face significant strain on their water supplies and that tend to house marginalized populations. I, for one, would much rather have a plagiaristic, hallucinating robot consume our dwindling drinking water instead of giving it to my loved ones. I’m sure those with contaminated and interrupted water in their homes would agree with me.
We see these issues playing out in real time as plans develop for a quantum computing campus on Chicago’s South Side. Rather than benefiting from such a huge venture, residents in these areas are left to bear the burden, fitting with the broader trend of harder impacts on marginalized communities. Some suggest that the development will create jobs. In the end, it is the Chicagoans who will suffer the energy, water, and health costs with little to no reward.
In an exclusive interview with Guerrilla Press, State Senator Mike Simmons of Illinois sees the truth in the trends. “The reality is those jobs never go to the people that live in high-unemployment communities. So why are we giving [data centers] tax incentives to do this?”
Artificial intelligence may appear as a convenient tool that can do anything for anyone. That’s how it’s marketed, after all. But these technologies can be developed for far more sinister uses; among them, artificial intelligence has potential applications in weaponry and combat.
The idea is no longer merely science fiction but a terrifying likelihood. Even Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei cautions about how devastating AI weaponry could be to humanity. A robot decides who lives or dies. No feeling. No nuance. No mercy.
Postponing the POWER Act leaves data centers to self-regulate. The people who benefit most from this profligate technology are the ones expected to limit its use? Fat chance, especially given how profitable the centers are. The average individual today can’t help but doomscroll on social media or have ChatGPT write their emails. I’m not holding my breath that wealthy folks who control data centers will put in greater-than-average effort—if any—to regulate something that keeps their wallets and egos at max capacity.
The real, immediate consequences of AI development are playing out here in Illinois and across the country. The allure of convenience and profit may make regulation a larger hurdle than we expect. Without regulation, we will soon reach a turning point where dystopian hypotheticals solidify into a much harder reality to tackle. That’s why we need to recognize the efforts we’ve already made in resistance and build off the momentum.
In just three months last year, anti-AI efforts delayed about $98 billion worth of data center development. This year, activists have already blocked $130 billion in data center projects. Smithfield, Rhode Island permanently banned data centers through a zoning amendment. Weaverville, North Carolina, banned data centers and crypto-mining. Some legislators are pushing for regulation across the country.
Even Pope Leo XIV wrote in his encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” against AI weapons systems. He emphasized the danger of deferring life-or-death decisions to a machine incapable of discerning morality, especially since doing so also relieves responsibility from humans choosing whether to kill.
What a relief! War can be more efficient than ever…and at half the emotional cost!
Pope Leo XIV recognizes how AI takes any remaining humanity out of these already immoral choices.
I want to emphasize, however, that the overwhelming surge in AI use and data center construction is not irreversible. Much of the rhetoric around artificial intelligence suggests that its rise is unstoppable and those who do not hop on the bandwagon will be left behind. This forced inevitability aims to discourage resistance before it is even attempted. With the midterms on the horizon, we need to remember the power we hold as voters too. We’re already fighting back, and it’s already working.
I heard a story the other day about a bagel store in Skokie that was shut down after two Salmonella outbreaks in the 80s, but the town supposedly rallied to the point that the health department had no choice but to reopen the store. I later found that a major part of the deli’s survival was due to the persistence, openness, and unrelenting optimism of the store’s owner.
While some details of the story may vary by source, it provides an excellent reminder that we can accomplish a lot through both individual and community efforts. Even small actions can create a meaningful impact. If it works for diners, it works for data centers too.
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