Alberta Technology Minister Nate Glubish will be on hand to host the provincial government’s second town hall on its plan for artificial intelligence centres.
Thursday’s event is in the town of Redwater, north of Edmonton in Sturgeon County, which is expected to host a $13-billion AI data centre project planned by tech giant Meta.
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Protestors voice concerns over new Alberta AI data centre -
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Sturgeon County data centre construction draws concerns from residents -
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Meta to build $13B data centre in Alberta -
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Danielle Smith announces deal with Meta to build new AI data centre in Alberta -
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Alberta greenlights $4.6b natural gas plant to fuel data centres
It comes after Glubish on Wednesday faced jeers, badgering and boos during a town hall in the central Alberta town of Lacombe.
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Opponents have said they don’t trust the government to control environmental risks, water usage and the cost of energy.
Glubish says the province has developed strict rules to protect local water supplies and keep power bills under control.
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Premier Danielle Smith is set to join Glubish for a virtual town hall on Aug. 27, and another in-person town hall is set for next month in Grande Prairie.
@Arthur
Interesting that you use cars as your example…..aren’t we trying to get rid of those unsafe pollution makers now?
It’s not about the centers themselves, it’s about who controls them, and who regulates them. If you believe that a company like Meta and our governments will do this right, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
There are plenty of open sparsely populated areas to build this, it does not need to be so close to larger population centers. They are noisy and over time will deteriorate the quality of life of people who voted for you Danielle. Do the right thing!
AI data centres are the same as the rest. The only difference is in scale. Also letting the IT industry design them means they will fail in 5 to 7 years. Then they get to build another one to replace it. Quite the racket they have going, lol.
If you want them to last, build them to telecom standards.
Oh yes, the current term AI is really only a fad buzz word for complex interactive software. True AI is not really here yet.
More recently, the resistance to data centres reminds of the same stupidity and incredible misinformation regarding 5G just a few years ago.
No problem Albertans will just continue to rely on the USA for data centers for medical research, safety analysis of new construction projects, optimization of airline and courier routes and a few million other AI applications.
The resistance to data centers reminds me of the resistance to the automobile in the early 1900s. Automobiles will put people out of work. They will pollute our air. They require water for cooling so all our lakes and rivers will disappear. They are too fast which makes them dangerous and so on.
2809 data centers in Europe. Canadian businesses have to fight to build two data centers. No wonder Canada is a backwards country with no innovation and our Prime Minister has to fly around to other countries begging for investment instead of Canada creating policies where Canadians can invest in Canada.
If I hadn’t seen the rampant corruption in all levels of government in my 60 plus years in Alberta, I might have believed Nate and Danielle. But I don’t.
I’m sure the benevolent leaders of meta have nothing but good intentions….
I’m sure that our Canadian governments have nothing but good intentions for the people….
Afterall the world has gotten so much better in the last decade….
I see comments are disappearing. These AI data centres are different from others that existed before. They aren’t good.
People using computers to complain about building data centres for the very computers they use or cell phone or laptops.
Maybe build some hydro dams on the North Sask river and create some green energy that we can all use but some will complain that this damages the environment. It would also build some reservoirs that the water could be used instead of just flowing all the way to Hudson Bay. Would still flow there but have some usefulness for Alberta , Sask and Manitoba.
This would just make the snow flakes scream but still use their AI on their devices!
@Wayne S, that would mean to include ucp also.
Just a dog and pony show since decisions are already made, typical uceepu.
People are saying that the Chinese are behind the anti-data center protests. Makes sense China wants to control the technology in the world.
All the NDP voting government workers will be protesting the data centers, because it wouldn’t take much Artificial Intelligence to replace a government worker.
The Canadian Troglodytes will be out in force to stop any advancement in Canada. If those people were around during the early 1900s we wouldn’t have automobiles in Canada, we would still be using horse and carriages for transportation.