Datacentres are a ticking timebomb. We must make sure AI’s benefits outweigh the costs

‘The economic, environmental and social consequences of this datacentre investment boom are profound,’ Nicki Hutley writes. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

The two great existential threats of our time – the climate crisis and AI – come hurtling together in the explosion of datacentres across Australia and around the world.

You can hardly avoid hearing about them these days, either with awed reverence of the promised benefits to humankind or with fear and anger given the implications for the climate, inflation, jobs and even housing affordability.