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Europeans Rally Against Expansion of Tech Giants' AI Infrastructure · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's stay in Europe for a moment where dozens
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  Speaker 1: of demonstrations against data centres are taking place in several cities.
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  Speaker 1: They're part of a growing global backlash over the rapid
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  Speaker 1: development of infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence. Let's go
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  Speaker 1: to CBC's Julia Chapman, who's following this story for us
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  Speaker 1: from London. Julia, what more can you tell us?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Natasha, there have been events held all across Europe,
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  Speaker 2: which range from talks to walking tours to poetry readings
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  Speaker 2: to more traditional protests. One of the largest demonstrations we've
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  Speaker 2: seen has been in Zaragoza in northeastern Spain. It's a
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  Speaker 2: part of the country that has become something of a
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  Speaker 2: European data center hub. Because the regional government there has
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  Speaker 2: really been encouraging AI companies to build these data centers
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  Speaker 2: there and has been fast tracking their approval. Many protesters
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  Speaker 2: taking action today say that has led to a lack
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  Speaker 2: of accountability. There's been demonstrations elsewhere, too. They actually kicked
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  Speaker 2: off yesterday. There was one in particular in Amsterdam that
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  Speaker 2: saw more than 150 people arrested after they broke into
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  Speaker 2: a construction site yesterday. where a Microsoft data center is
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  Speaker 2: being built. This was a separate group from the organized
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  Speaker 2: action this weekend. Their grievances against Microsoft were a bit broader.
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  Speaker 2: But outside that site, there were also dozens of demonstrators
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  Speaker 2: peacefully objecting to the building of that data center. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the organizers of this weekend's campaign say they want AI
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  Speaker 2: data center expansion to be paused forever. They want proper
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  Speaker 2: public consultations to take place. I've been speaking to Owen Espley,
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  Speaker 2: who is a coordinator for Stop Dirty Data Centres EU,
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  Speaker 2: which is a coalition of groups that's been organising this
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  Speaker 2: weekend's events.
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  Speaker 3: People want to stop the rush and the race that
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  Speaker 3: the big tech hype is driving politicians into and instead
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  Speaker 3: have a proper sober grown up debate about what are
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  Speaker 3: the benefits of this? How many of these data centers
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  Speaker 3: do we really need? What do we need them for?
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  Speaker 3: What are the harms that they cause and how can
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  Speaker 3: we mitigate those harms properly and make sure that communities
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  Speaker 3: are properly involved in that decision?
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  Speaker 2: There are lots of different concerns that people have about
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  Speaker 2: data centers. Some don't want them to be built in
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  Speaker 2: their neighborhoods. Others are worried about the significant environmental impact
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  Speaker 2: they believe they will have. But there are also fears
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  Speaker 2: about what they mean for jobs, housing and affordability more widely.
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  Speaker 1: Julia, we're seeing a shift in attitude towards AI and
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  Speaker 1: the development of these data centers around the world.
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  Speaker 2: Pausing the development of new data centers. Now that they're
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  Speaker 2: in office, many of them, they're expected to push for
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  Speaker 2: tougher regulation of the industry. And in response to their election,
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  Speaker 2: we saw the stocks of many AI companies plummet, wiping
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  Speaker 2: trillions off of their value this week, some of which
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  Speaker 2: have rebounded slightly. But big tech companies are still making
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  Speaker 2: the argument that these data centers are necessary for for
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  Speaker 2: the development of AI, which they say will bring a
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  Speaker 2: lot of benefits. They argue as well that the environmental
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  Speaker 2: damage is exaggerated. But those arguments don't seem to be
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  Speaker 2: persuading the critics and the many protesters taking part this
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  Speaker 2: weekend who still fear the industry is moving too quickly
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  Speaker 2: and isn't consulting the public enough.
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  Speaker 1: Julia Chapman, reporting from London. Thanks so much, Julia. You're welcome.
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  Speaker 1: And staying on this subject, Ottawa is betting on artificial
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  Speaker 1: intelligence in its latest budget. with plans to expand Canada's
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  Speaker 1: computing capacity. But as we just saw in Julia's report,
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  Speaker 1: communities are questioning the demands on electricity and water and
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  Speaker 1: who pays for this infrastructure. Technology analyst and journalist Carmi
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  Speaker 1: Levy has more on the government's push for Canadian-controlled or
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  Speaker 1: sovereign AI infrastructure.
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  Speaker 4: It feels like the federal government recognizes that if you're
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  Speaker 4: going to be a global AI power, you have to
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  Speaker 4: build out your national AI infrastructure first. And so Yes,
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  Speaker 4: there is global and national opposition to these projects, but
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  Speaker 4: we need to build them. Otherwise, we're not going to
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  Speaker 4: be able to compete with other countries that do have
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  Speaker 4: this capability. We've also seen, for example, political strife with
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  Speaker 4: the U.S., concern about our data sitting on their infrastructure.
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  Speaker 4: We want to build sovereign infrastructure in Canada, data centers
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  Speaker 4: that keep our data within our borders. And so what
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  Speaker 4: the government is doing is essentially opening up the taps
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  Speaker 4: on that, you know, making it clear we're going to
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  Speaker 4: provide funding for these projects. We're going to provide tax
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  Speaker 4: incentives for investments in the technology that will power the
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  Speaker 4: AI economy. We are going to make sure that the
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  Speaker 4: traditional obstacles to building out this capability are either removed
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  Speaker 4: or streamlined as much as possible so that we can,
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  Speaker 4: you know, hit the pedal to the metal while other
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  Speaker 4: countries are pulling back.
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  Speaker 1: Technology Analyst, Carmi Levy.