Amazon pens a scary blog warning towns not to block its data centers

Amazon is urging US communities to get behind AI data center projects — warning that failing to do so could cause irreparable harm to the country's economy and national security. In a blog post running more than 3,000 words published today, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman pushed back on public worries about the impact of data centers on jobs, power demand, and the environment, declaring the race for AI dominance one "our nation can't afford to lose."

Myths and "seeded" disinformation

"With any change, there will be important questions raised, but there will also be misinformation and outright lies, and in the age of social media and 24/7 news, myths take hold faster than ever before," Garman wrote. The buildout is so important geopolitically, he claimed, that there are "widespread reports" of various countries deliberately seeding disinformation about data centers in the US to trick Americans into slowing down.

The post arrives as support for AI data centers has plummeted in polls and backlash grows in the communities where they are being built. Nationwide, concerns are mounting over AI safety and what the technology will do to society if left unchecked.

"Right now there are over 100 data center moratoriums being considered across the country," Garman said. "If these measures are enacted, the US could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations."

Commitments and the end of NDAs

The lengthy memo lists practices Amazon is codifying under a "Data Center Commitment" — creating jobs, preventing increases to local energy rates, and pledging more than $1 billion to support communities neighboring its data centers. Amazon also says it no longer uses nondisclosure agreements with government agencies, after Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin probed tech companies over secret deals with local officials.

In an interview about those NDAs reported by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon chief global affairs and legal officer David Zapolsky said "the industry comes from a history of secrecy and so some of that's just reflex." He added that community leaders need to share information with their constituents, and that requiring secrecy "just didn't make sense" anymore.

Source: The Verge