Large-scale datacentre projects around the world are being challenged or cancelled, as infrastructure’s energy demands ramp up

Datacentre planning proposals face all kinds of hurdles, from securing energy supply to high construction costs. But the 2,000 acre Prince William Digital Gateway site in the US state of Virginia had another problem: its proximity to a Civil War battlefield.

“If the development is allowed to proceed, the solemn nature of this historic site would become marred by sitting in the shadow of the monstrous datacentres, along with their associated electrical infrastructure,” said one legal brief against the plans.

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© Photograph: Horst Friedrichs/Alamy

© Photograph: Horst Friedrichs/Alamy

© Photograph: Horst Friedrichs/Alamy

Does a thought-experiment about US ascendancy in the technology say as much about AI jitters as it does about the reality?

It’s 2031 and the US and China are about to tear Europe into pieces.

The US ploughed vast sums into datacentres and the EU did not. China built robots and Europe did not. American companies “restructured” their workflows around AI and fired people, while EU workers went on long lunch breaks and handed over administrative tasks to the AI model Claude.

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© Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

© Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

© Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

The emergence of a Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) may be soon claimed to have occurred and even demonstrated by one of these AI superclusters. It may be heralded as the arrival of a super intelligence, more intelligent than all mankind who deserves to be worshipped as a god, a god of human creation.

The ongoing competition to create artificial intelligence involves massive investments by major companies in developing supercomputers with extensive GPU capacities. However, true sentient intelligence cannot emerge merely from advanced technology, as intelligence is the product of divine creation, not a result of computational complexity alone.