No AI data centers in my backyard!

后院绝不允许有AI数据中心!

The Indicator from Planet Money

2025-10-22

9 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

In the rush to power AI, data centers are popping up in small communities across the U.S. But a growing backlash against this build-out is pitting communities against developers over energy prices and water use. Today on the show, one Michigan community’s fight to stop a data center and what it means for Big Tech. Related episodes: What $10B in data centers actually gets you Is AI overrated or underrated? For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.   Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • NPR. This is the Indicator from Planet Money.

  • I'm Darian Woods.

  • And today, Dustin Dwyer is joining us from member station Michigan Public.

  • Hey, Dustin.

  • Hey, Darian.

  • So look, I wanted to tell you about this meeting I went to not that long ago.

  • It was a planning commission meeting for a little place called Pavilion Township, Michigan.

  • Okay, haven't heard of that town before.

  • Yeah, you know, I hadn't actually either, even though I live like about an hour away.

  • But so at the meeting,

  • what they were going to talk about was a zoning ordinance amendment to allow data centers.

  • Yeah, there's a lot of data center talk at the moment.

  • Yeah, because there's such a huge factor in the economy right now.

  • These are the massive buildings filled with the computers to power all these new AI models.

  • And it turns out data centers are a new hot button issue in local government.

  • So I went to this meeting expecting just like a boring little discussion about this zoning amendment,

  • but it was not.

  • The place was packed.

  • All right, we call the meeting to order.

  • So these people, they're all against the data center?