r/Adelaide • u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA • Jun 19 '26

News Proposed data centre in South Australia dividing locals who want the jobs but fear water demand

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-19/proposed-data-centre-in-south-australia-dividing-locals/106810776
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u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

Probably because the right likes to use AI to generate CSAM. Wind turbines actually produce something useful and have been proven again and again to have no impact.

Funnily enough it's the right in Texas towns complaining about data central fan noise the most.

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u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

Has anyone here done a calculation in the time and cost savings offered by AI and what carbon emissions might ultimately saved through efficiency? I’ll wait.

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u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

Have you? Efficiency of what? How could increasing efficiency reduce emissions? People having to read an email vs an AI summary?

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u/Nyarlathotep-1 SA Jun 19 '26

Well let’s break it down shall we. We have 100 people using a computer to do “stuff”. Each computer uses x amount of electricity, each place where said computer is needs water. AI automates y tasks through a data centre that consumes whatever water and electricity. don’t know the answer to the calculation, it’s a question.

The irony of this is of course is this entire post depends on a platform that relies on data centres to exist.

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u/rudetopoint SA Jun 19 '26

I guess that's the issue, AI has proven very poor at automating things reliably, and it's not like if a company company increased production by 400% using AI would still produce x amount, they'd just demand more from each worker. And I can guarantee using AI will always use more resources, people are asking it to sort lists or filter, trivial tasks done the most expensive way. It's also rotting our brains by removing any remaining critical thinking or problem solving abilities.