"AI is no longer just a cascade of algorithms trained on massive amounts of data. It has become a physical and infrastructural phenomenon, one whose future will be determined not by breakthroughs in benchmarks, but by the hard realities of power, geography, regulation, and the very nature of intelligence. Businesses that fail to see this will be blindsided. Data centers were once the sterile backrooms of the internet: important, but invisible."
"In 2025 and into 2026, communities around the U.S. have been pushing back against new data center construction. In Springfield, Ohio; Loudoun County, Virginia and elsewhere, local residents and officials have balked at the idea of massive facilities drawing enormous amounts of electricity, disrupting neighborhoods, and straining already stretched electrical grids. These conflicts are not isolated. They are a signal, a structural friction point in the expansion of the AI economy."
AI has transitioned from purely algorithmic progress to a physical, infrastructural phenomenon whose trajectory depends on power availability, geography, regulation, and infrastructure. Data centers now power generative AI and large language models, but their expansion faces limits that may not be resolved by more capital, more facilities, or faster chips. In 2025–2026, local communities have resisted new data center construction due to electricity use, neighborhood disruption, and grid strain. Utilities warn that AI’s energy demands could prompt higher rates and reshape electricity economics. The friction between local resistance, grid capacity, and political pressures reveals that physical reality constrains AI development.
Read at Fast Company
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