The social and environmental impacts of AI data centres

The UK government is championing rapid data centre expansion to build foundations for domestic artificial intelligence (AI) capability that will produce economic growth and digital sovereignty. Less attention has been paid to the social and environmental impacts created by data centre resource demands on energy, water, and minerals, which affect local and international communities. 

Rory Murphy (University of Exeter, ACCESS) explores these impacts by reviewing academic research, international case studies, and public engagement data from the UK’s largest approved data centre planning application. This talk sets academic evidence alongside the experiences of communities living near data centres, asks how the UK planning system identifies AI’s socio-environmental impacts, and considers to what extent that system addresses public concerns. 

A report accompanying the research will be available soon.

Header image credit: © Tom Falcon Harding via Adobe Stock