Gov. Kathy Hochul justified a $1 billion natural gas project by appealing to affordability. But the main reason the state needs the energy is because data centers are hogging it.
data centers
Posted inVideos
The Prospect Weekly Roundup: ACA Sticker Shock and AI Jitters
David and staff writer Whitney Curry Wimbish discuss skyrocketing health insurance costs and the sketchy deals at the heart of the data center boom.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The AI Bubble Is Bigger Than You Think
It’s not just OpenAI that looks overhyped. There’s a whole mountain of sketchy financial engineering underneath.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
OpenAI Is Maneuvering for a Government Bailout
For artificial intelligence to ever pencil out, some truly enormous revenue streams will be required. And if you need trillions of dollars for data centers forever, there’s only one entity to turn to: Uncle Sam.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
AI’s $600 Billion Blind Spot
A new report offers a legislative road map for creating a competitive and secure cloud computing market, without forcing policymakers to reinvent the wheel.
Posted inVideos
The Prospect Weekly Roundup: The Politics and Policy of AI
On our live show, David talks with Bryan McMahon and Dylan Gyauch-Lewis about the limits and hazards of the current state of artificial intelligence, and what politicians should do about it.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Democrats Must Oppose the AI Industry
As currently constructed, AI is an oligarchy-enriching, worker-immiserating, energy-depleting, brain-rotting economic bubble in waiting. Democrats can get on the public’s side here.
Posted inEconomic Policy
What If There’s No AGI?
The technological struggles are in some ways beside the point. The financial bet on artificial general intelligence is so big that failure could cause a depression.
Posted inEconomic Policy
The Shifting Anti-Monopoly Landscape
Fights over data centers and music venues show that resisting corporate power will have to go local in the age of Trump.
Posted inEconomic Policy
What the Economy Really Looks Like
When you factor in all the data points, we have an anxious workforce, a business sector seeking opportunity in inflation, and an avalanche of bad policy bearing down on everyone.