Diana Fox Carney, front left, Prime Minister Mark Carney, centre, and AI Minister Evan Solomon visit technology startups at the Vector Institute, in Toronto on June 4.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney had barely finished unveiling his government’s artificial intelligence strategy last week, with a goal of massively boosting AI adoption in this country, before he got a tangible sign of just how hard that will be.
On the same day that Mr. Carney and AI Minister Evan Solomon tabled their bullish vision to transform Canada from AI laggard to leader, the City of Hamilton’s committee of adjustment rejected a developer’s request for a land severance to allow for the construction of “hyperscale and enterprise data centres” on the city’s waterfront.
A loose coalition of environmentalists, nearby residents and anti-capitalist activists had mobilized against the prospect of water-and-electricity-sucking data centres popping up on the site where industrial workers once made steel. Their objections ranged from NIMBY concerns over noise to hardened ideological opposition to the economic and social consequences of the 21st century’s most disruptive technology, one whose development is overwhelmingly controlled by a new oligarchy of tech billionaires.
Stay tuned. What happened in Hamilton will soon be coming to a community near you, if it hasn’t already.
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Across North America and Europe, the growing anti-data centre movement aims to halt AI’s advancement by blocking the construction of the massive complexes needed to house servers that store and process the data underpinning AI applications.
“In truth, anti-data centre organizing is the real fight, one centred on an industry choke point that people can reach out and touch,” Astra Taylor and Saul Levin wrote last month in The Guardian. “This brewing populist resistance isn’t just about limiting local development; it represents a critical new frontline in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism.”
Indeed, data centres are emerging as the defining wedge issue of our times. As Western governments scramble to ensure AI pre-eminence over China, they are running up against opposition to potential job losses, concerns about AI’s drain on scarce resources, warnings about its impacts on economic inequality and mental health, and, ultimately, increasingly plausible fears that autonomous AI could outsmart its human creators.
The federal government’s AI strategy document, entitled "AI for All," only hinted at the epic political battles looming in this country as the high-stakes race for AI dominance reconfigures the coalitions of voters that parties here and abroad have traditionally relied on.
“AI is rapidly becoming a foundational driver of economic growth, productivity, industrial capability, and geopolitical influence,” it said. “Nations that lead in AI will increasingly shape global markets, technological standards, supply chains, and the broader balance of economic and political power.”
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South of the border, several states, cities and counties have proposed or adopted moratoriums on data centres. The New York State Assembly last week became the latest, passing a one-year pause on the “siting, construction, or commencement of operations of data centres.” Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, who is up for re-election in November, has not yet revealed whether she will sign or veto the bill.
In March, independent Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill that would impose a moratorium on new data centres “until Congress passes comprehensive AI legislation that ensures the safety and prosperity of the American people.” Mr. Sanders went further last week by announcing plans to introduce a second bill that would impose a one-time 50-per-cent tax on the largest U.S.-based AI companies that would see the federal government own half of their equity.
Neither bill stands any chance of passing Congress. But they set the stage for a political fight over AI regulation that could dominate the 2028 U.S. election cycle. While inflation and U.S. President Donald Trump’s war in Iran are likely to drive the result of November’s midterm congressional elections, AI is already roiling state and local campaigns this year.
The data centre boom has created a quandary for politicians in both U.S. parties.
Some leading MAGA lights, including Steve Bannon, are backing a conservative group called Humans First in calling on the President to take “decisive action to ensure that the most powerful AI systems in the world are properly vetted before they can threaten our national security, our children, American workers and the American way of life.”
Even deeper divisions have emerged among Democrats. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer last week joined OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to break ground on a data centre in her state. Pennsylvania Senator Jon Fetterman rejected the country-wide moratorium proposed by Mr. Sanders and AOC, saying: “I refuse to help hand the lead in AI to China.”
Welcome to the new politics of AI. It’s already heading north. Canada’s AI strategy may stand or fall by it.