Artificial intelligence is at the center of heated debates, especially as data centers spring up around Georgia, with strong opinions about their purpose and impact.
The initial sales pitch for AI revolved around it replacing professions that humans find fulfilling and do much better, such as art. However, the true value of AI lies in its potential to address pressing societal needs, especially through practical applications such as environmental monitoring, rather than its ability to replace human jobs or mimic human reasoning.
For example, Igor Belykh’s research group at Georgia State University applies AI to address pressing social media issues, accelerating the time researchers need to study social problems. This kind of concrete initiative shows how AI can provide immediate benefits for communities by giving policymakers actionable insights.
Since the onset of what people have deemed the “AI bubble,” many people have lamented or outright groaned about the shoehorning of AI features into every imaginable piece of software.
Why would anyone be excited about a product that is marketed to replace their jobs? Layoffs attributed to AI have already hit multiple industries in Georgia, and Georgia college students are becoming increasingly anxious about the potential value of a college education. Many students are starting to question whether their chosen fields will still exist after graduation, or if they need to shift their focus to areas less likely to be automated.
Some ideas on how to find your voice in the data center debate
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Making the problem worse are the AI data centers coming to Georgia, including Marietta. These data centers use a lot of water and raise grave concerns about environmental racism.
For example, in Douglas County, residents have protested the construction of new data centers that require large amounts of water for cooling, worrying that these facilities will strain local water supplies and impact neighborhoods that already face environmental challenges.
Some local news stories have reported that the areas most affected by these data centers are communities of color or low-income neighborhoods, deepening concerns about unequal environmental burdens.
To address these concerns, communities can engage in local advocacy to demand greater transparency around water use and environmental impact from both government officials and the companies building data centers.
Communities have an especially important role to play, and they can take several concrete actions to get involved locally.
For example, students can organize or join community meetings to share information and amplify residents’ concerns. They can collaborate with professors or local organizations to create easy-to-understand fact sheets on data center projects and their potential environmental impacts, making the issues accessible to more people.
Students can also volunteer to help collect data for independent environmental impact assessments or join campaigns that lobby for sustainable practices, such as using water-efficient cooling systems.
Community members can attend council meetings.
Working together to push for community benefits agreements that prioritize local hiring and environmental protections can empower residents to shape outcomes.
By proactively organizing and seeking accurate information, communities can better respond to environmental and equity issues connected to AI infrastructure.
Use AI as a research tool to address the negative impacts it causes
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
In Georgia, communities are already facing unemployment and AI’s energy consumption.
The question should not be whether AI can replace activities humans find rewarding — making music, for example — but whether it warrants the enormous commitment of resources and the inevitable environmental racism that comes with it.
Projects that use AI to monitor environmental conditions, improve disaster preparedness, understand harmful social-media behavior or help government policymakers make better decisions offer a different vision of the technology — one centered on public need rather than technological novelty.
Students, researchers, residents, and policymakers should demand that AI development meet that standard.
If communities are being asked to bear the costs of the AI boom, they should also have a voice in determining what problems AI is used to solve and who ultimately benefits.
The only seeming way forward is to use AI to solve the problems it creates and to allow students to continue receiving an education by solving the problems it creates; perhaps the gambit is that AI can accelerate the research needed to address its impacts.
Kevin Slote is an applied mathematician and is helping The Atlanta Journal-Constitution prepare for artificial intelligence in a socially and ecologically mindful way.
Send letters to the editor of 250 words or fewer with your name, city or town and contact information to letters@ajc.com.
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