AI Data Centers Are Coming to Your Backyard

AI doesn’t live in “the cloud.” It lives in buildings: large, energy-hungry, water-dependent facilities that require land, cooling systems, backup power, utility agreements, zoning decisions, and public infrastructure. We’re re-releasing this conversation because the issue has become urgently local. Across the United States, communities are debating whether proposed data centers are good economic development, risky infrastructure bets, or something in between. Here in Ames, Iowa, the City Cou...