They suck up energy and water, and blast out heat.
You can avoid hearing about them these days, either with awed reverence of the promised benefits to humankind or with fear and anger given the implications for the climate, inflation, jobs and even housing affordability.
Worldwide, there are more than 10,000 active datacentres, with this number expected to increase by 3.5 times at an estimated cost of US$7tn. The US hosts most of these centres but Australia is attracting activity, with 286 active or planned centres and global AI leaders including Anthropic looking to Australia as a potential training ground for its models.
The economic, environmental and social consequences of this datacentre investment boom are profound.
Unlike roads or education, it is unclear who is benefiting from all this investment or how.
In Shanghai, it’s relieving congestion; around the world it’s improving diagnosis accuracy and speed for X-ray, CT, MRI and other imaging; and it is helping optimise energy grids to avoid blackouts. The potential economic and social benefits are enormous.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has written to banks to warn of the accelerating cybersecurity risk posed by AI.
Datacentres in Australia are expected to triple their consumption of both by 2030.
Any cost-benefit analysis must include the collective impact of datacentre emissions.
In a speech to the Australian Business Economists in February, the assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy, Andrew Charlton, noted that Australia was now at a crossroad.
Looking at the datacentre and AI landscape and their associated costs, it has not succeeded.