Study: Amazon Data Centers in Mississippi Raise Local Electricity Rates by $10.60/Month Before Opening
By
Roshan Abraham
The kind of bagel that ruins lesser bagels for you.
Summary
A new study reveals that three Amazon data centers in Mississippi, which aren't even operational yet, have already caused electricity rate increases of at least $10.60 per month for local residents. The article critiques the AI industry's narrative of being a "black box" by highlighting how the true costs of AI infrastructure—including data centers and energy plants—are hidden behind non-disclosure agreements and shielded from public scrutiny, ultimately burdening nearby communities with higher utility bills.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe AI industry has been pushing a narrative that the technology is a 'black box' whose inner workings are so complex that they remain unknown even to the people making it.
But another black box of AI is the underlying cost of the technology, and, specifically, what the AI boom is costing people who live near massive data centers.
The data centers and energy plants that power large language models and other generative AI tools are subject to contracts cloaked in non-disclosure agreements and in many cases shielded from public scrutiny on the pretext that they
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