#aicolonialism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #aicolonialism, aggregated by home.social.
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"In India, due to the brutal caste system, Dalit bodies, communities, and their concerns are often overlooked. Hence, when billionaires such as Bill Gates call India a “laboratory to do things,” a logical question is: whose bodies and communities will be sacrificed to create human-lab conditions for these billionaires? The fear is that since these AI data centres are facing backlash in the Global North, they are trying to shift them to the Global South, where civil liberties are precarious and, furthermore, unaccountable, and repressive governments may go to any extent to protect the interests of these AI czars.
It is thus likely that with AI as well, marginalised Indians might be now at the receiving end of Big Tech’s “laboratories”. Whether it is Sam Altman devaluing human life and experience by calling it the same as AI training data, or Anthropic building an identity around being the ethical and conscientious AI company while raising billions of dollars in funding, all Big Tech companies are operating within the same neo-colonial imaginaries.
Data workers from the Global South are already tasked with sanitising AI datasets to clean them of violent, hateful, and disturbing content from the Internet, at the cost of their own mental health. Many reports have highlighted that people only take up these jobs due to a lack of better employment opportunities. Recent developments, therefore, must serve as a much more urgent reminder to understand the risks for the Global South. AI colonialism must be resisted, knowing fully well who will bear the cost of this new form of colonialism."
https://thewire.in/tech/who-will-bear-the-cost-of-ai-colonialism
#India #AI #GenerativeAI #DataCenters #AIColonialism #BigTech
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"Platforms will not do this on their own; their incentives run in the opposite direction.
But audiences, creators, and critics can push back by valuing longevity over virality, by rewarding substance over aesthetic repackaging, by choosing to engage with work in ways that cannot be reduced to a trend cycle."
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Remember “The Ghiblification”? We Treated Ghibli As Disposable Because That’s How We Treat Everything - Yanko Design
https://web.archive.org/web/20251217013855/https://www.yankodesign.com/2025/12/16/remember-the-ghiblification-we-treated-ghibli-as-disposable-because-thats-how-we-treat-everything/ -
The noise of #BitcoinMining is driving #Americans crazy
Constant hum of fans that cool #DataCenter computers is turning residents against #Trump's pro-#cryptocurrency agenda
Scientists are increasingly linking 'prolonged exposure to #NoisePollution with cardiovascular damage'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
published 5 days ago"The relentless '#MechanicalHowl' of a #cryptocurrency mining facility has become 'the soundtrack to life for hundreds of residents' in #GranburyTX, a small rural town in #Texas, said The Guardian.
" ;It echoes across agricultural land and forests, chasing away deer. It seeps into walls, vibrating bedrooms and dinner tables.' One resident said it was as though a 'jet engine is forever stationed nearby'.
"Bitcoin mining has exploded in the US over the past decade, particularly in the wake of Donald Trump's re-election to the White House and his embrace of cryptocurrency. But it's an energy-intensive process: the powerful computers that create and protect the cryptocurrency need fans on the go constantly to cool them down. And across #rural, mostly #Republican towns, residents are getting sick of the noise – and getting sick, full stop."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/fnuCT#AIColonialism #NoNukesForAI #AISucks #WaterIsLife #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution
#DataCenters #USPol #NoisePollution -
#Kentucky is welcoming a #DataCenter boom. But what are the #environmental costs?
by Connor Giffin
April 29, 2025"Some of the biggest companies in the world are eyeing Kentucky and neighboring states for data center development, as surging interest in artificial intelligence pushes the industry to scour the country for energy, land and water.
"The projects carry a promise of historic investment. Experts say they could also deepen some of Kentucky’s foremost environmental challenges.
"Sprawling data centers have been announced in Jefferson County, across the river in Southern #Indiana, and most recently in Oldham County — where opponents fear a $6 billion proposed project could upend rural character, quality of life and water resources.
"Data centers are critical infrastructure for internet and cloud services, underpinning everything from emails to online shopping. Due to their vast scale of computational power, cooling systems and other operations, large data centers have an insatiable demand for energy.
"The major projects coming to the Louisville area will demand hundreds of megawatts — enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. Data centers are expected to make up 7-12% of all U.S. electricity consumption by 2028, up from 2% about a decade ago.
"In Kentucky, a small portion of power generation comes from renewable sources, like solar power. Most comes from coal, widely considered the most polluting form of energy, or gas, which also brings emissions with planet-warming consequences.
"With a looming spike in power demand and pressure to meet that demand, advocates fear utilities could turn to highly polluting fuels. But some hope the demand could also push utilities to diversify with more renewables, as data center operators call for as much power as possible, as soon as possible.
"The industry has tried to assuage fears of environmental harm. Some data center operators have indicated plans to use renewable energy or take steps in development to protect waterways and preserve green space.
"State and local officials are welcoming data centers with open arms. The Kentucky General Assembly this year expanded sales and use tax exemptions for 'qualified data center projects' in a bill lobbied by #Google and #Meta."
#AIColonialism #NoNukesForAI #AISucks #WaterIsLife #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution
#DataCenters -
AI's Air Pollution Problem: Data Center Energy Use Adds to Deadly Emissions
Published Dec 12, 2024
"The energy required for artificial intelligence causes air pollution from fossil-fueled power sources, a new study has found, and the authors warn that as AI grows so will the health burden from air pollution unless data centers use cleaner power.
"Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and CalTech project that growing demand for power for the AI boom could result in as many as 1,300 premature deaths and billions of dollars in health costs in the U.S. each year by the end of this decade.
"Despite growth in cleaner energy and progress in pollution controls, many parts of the country still rely heavily on coal and natural gas to generate electricity, and pollutants from power plants such as fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
"The rapid growth of data centers to drive AI will be a major source of demand for electricity and thus a major contributor to air pollution, the researchers said.
" 'These are real impacts that we'll be seeing if we're not taking any actions right now,' UC Riverside associate professor of electrical and computer engineering Shaolei Ren told Newsweek. 'And those are preventable to a large extent.'
"Ren and his co-authors drew on industry data about energy consumption by data centers and used a tool developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to calculate the air pollution and health impacts from the electricity use [that was before the #Trumpian era].
"However, many data centers also rely on backup generators separate from the electric grid. For example, when Elon #Musk launched his #xAI data center in Memphis, Tennessee, in July, it relied on a fleet of mobile generators, raising #pollution concerns among residents there."
#AIColonialism #NoNukesForAI #AISucks #WaterIsLife #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution
#DataCenters -
AI data centers are making your electricity supply worse and could damage your home, new study says
Katie Balevic, Lloyd Lee
December 29, 2024"A Bloomberg analysis assessed readings from some 770,000 homes from February to October and found that over 75% of 'highly distorted power readings across the country are within 50 miles of significant #DataCenter activity.'
"Stresses on the power grid can lead to inconsistent power quality, and as the power quality decreases, the risk increases, Bloomberg reported. Inconsistent energy flow can cause #electronics to overheat, leading to sparks or even #HouseFires.
"A small handful of large tech companies own the vast majority of global data centers — and they show no signs of slowing down as they pour billions into building more powerful AI models.
"#Amazon, #Google, and #Microsoft own about 65% of the cloud infrastructure market, which includes data centers, according to a 2023 report from market research firm Synergy Research Group.
"Google announced in April that it's investing $3 billion to build and expand data centers in #Virginia and #Indiana. The search engine giant unveiled its latest AI model, #Gemini 2.0, in December.
"#Amazon, which is a large investor in AI startup #Anthropic, is investing another $10 billion in Ohio data centers, Gov. Mike DeWine announced on December 16.
"Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, said in September that the company has partnered with other investors, including #BlackRock, in a $100 billion energy infrastructure project. The project will include 'new and expanded data centers,' the company said.
"To meet AI's increasing energy demands, companies like Google have also started turning to #NuclearPower to find more reliable and sustainable energy sources."
https://www.aol.com/news/ai-data-centers-making-electricity-195931626.html?guccounter=1
#AIColonialism #NoNukesForAI #AISucks #WaterIsLife #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution
#DataCenters -
Against #AILiteracy: have we actually found a way to #ReverseLearning?
Miriam Reynoldson
Apr 19, 2025"So let’s get one thing out of the way: I think '#AI literacy' is a dangerous device of neoliberal education and it deserves to be dismissed out of hand.
"I don’t like that declaring this will immediately turn off half my audience, but I think it’s only fair to say it up front.
"This has a lot to do with my feelings about generative AI technologies, their developers, their #BloodDiamond genesis, and their ugly consequences for those who use them and those who are impacted by their use.
But it has a lot more to do with what literacy is."
Read more:
https://themindfile.substack.com/p/against-ai-literacy-have-we-actually#AIColonialism #AISucks #HumanCreativity #NoNukesForAI #WaterIsLife #DumbingUsDown #NoAI #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution #DataCenters #Terminator #Skynet
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“Empire of #AI”: #KarenHao on How AI Is Threatening #Democracy & Creating a New #Colonial World
June 04, 2025 via @DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss
"The new book #EmpireOfAI by longtime technology reporter Karen Hao unveils the accruing political and economic power of AI companies — especially Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Her reporting uncovered the #exploitation of #workers in #Kenya, attempts to take massive amounts of freshwater from communities in #Chile, along with numerous accounts of the technology’s detrimental impact on the environment. 'This is an extraordinary type of AI development that is causing a lot of #social, #labor and #environmental harms,' says Hao."
Read / listen / watch:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/4/karen_hao_empire_of_ai#AIColonialism #AISucks #HumanCreativity #NoNukesForAI #WaterIsLife #DumbingUsDown #NoAI #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution #DataCenters #Terminator #Skynet
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@karenhao: "The AI industry does not seek to capture land as the conquistadors of the Caribbean and Latin America did, but the same desire for profit drives it to expand its reach. The more users a company can acquire for its products, the more subjects it can have for its algorithms, and the more resources—data—it can harvest from their activities, their movements, and even their bodies."
cc @couldrynick
@sofiascasserrahttps://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/19/1049592/artificial-intelligence-colonialism/
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How the AI industry profits from catastrophe
"The insatiable demand has created a need for a broad base of cheap labor to manually tag videos, sort photos, and transcribe audio. The market value of sourcing and coordinating that “ghost work,” as it was memorably dubbed by anthropologist Mary Gray and computational social scientist Siddharth Suri, is projected to reach $13.7 billion by 2030."
#AI #digitalcolonialism #ghosworker #AIcolonialismhttps://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/20/1050392/ai-industry-appen-scale-data-labels
