INSIGHT ‘‘
Gary Horrocks is UKeiG Business Coordinator and Editor of eLucidate(
info.ukeig@
cilip.org.uk, @
ukeig.bsky.social).
UKeiG
Cloud busting – the weightless myth I
‘VE always considered myself the antithesis of a Luddite having embraced, promoted and taught technological innovation with enthusiasm
over decades in librarianship and information science. But … (there’s always a but) I must admit that, though cognisant of the benefits of AI, I’m increasingly curious and intrigued by the discourse of its detractors in an anarchic and terrify- ingly fast-moving terrain. I was in London recently and encountered a demonstration led by PauseAI one of the many vocal pressure groups – including, for example, Pull the Plug – all demanding the “democratic oversight and regulation of AI”. Their flyer proclaimed: “Don’t build what you can’t control…SAFETY before superintelligence.” It’s a common concern increasingly articulated by academics, pundits and the media. In a nutshell, a minority of Big Tech companies (individuals even) are investing billions to stay ahead of the game and outdo the competition, with no pause to reflect on the outcomes nor any regulation and independent monitoring. A significant proportion of this investment lies in the creation of “AI architecture”; the rise of the international data centres that will become the cathedrals of the so-called “fourth industrial revolution”. In an incredibly eloquent and insightful column for The Observer newspaper, Science & Tech writer John Naughton pondered on the
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irony of cloud computing, an “illusion of weightlessness…fostered by a metaphor”. The smart phone simplicity and convenience of “touching an icon on a glass screen is like rubbing Aladdin’s lamp”.
The cloud is hardly fluffy. It’s hard Many people take AI tech for granted, foolishly generating memes, animations and AI videos, blissfully unaware that the cloud is hardly fluffy. It’s hard. “Digital technology is anything but weightless… in fact, it weighs heavily on the planet.” Recently Russian vessels were caught snooping around the vast network of deep-sea cables that keep us happily emailing, food and cat photo sharing and doom scrolling online. Then, there are the massive challenges presented by the rise of the 21st century energy and water guzzling carbuncles that are the AI data centres. I recently engaged in a fascinating discussion with good friend,
environmentalist and chartered electronic engineer, Dr Phillipa Parmiter. She emphasised that “the environmental cost of data centres is huge. Water use, energy use, waste heat, and the impact of these on climate change.”
She also noted that end-of-life electronics would have to be replaced every three to five years, having additional impact on scarce resources, waste disposal and energy consumption. These data centres are proliferating with many more proposed or under construction. She points out: “The hydrogen production plant in Teesside has been cancelled in favour of a data centre. The Mossmorran chemical plant has closed, and the council
Many people take AI tech for granted, foolishly generating memes, animations and AI videos, blissfully unaware that the cloud is hardly fluffy.
plans to put data centres there instead. “If we are going to construct these data centres, we need to incorporate community value and societal impact, considering the use of waste heat for heating buildings like libraries, sports and community centres, for example.” Phillipa also raised the issue of data centre system security. How will they be managed and secured over time? In an increasingly volatile world, are we not concerned about their vulnerability to hostile action and dreaded drone warfare? They also offer negligible opportunities for employment. “While data centres recruit lots of people during the construction phase,” she says, “data suggests that longer term day-to-day operational roles will require less than ten staff.”
Terrifyingly, AI will be required to support the more complex aspects of keeping these centres running as the technology advances.
In the final analysis Phillipa stressed that there really needs to be a much wider debate on the rationale for building data centres, factoring in their impact on the environment, the landscape and on local communities. Most importantly – what value do they give to society? If we continue to build them, should we not be prioritising the use of AI for societal good? Not its frivolous use for entertainment and social media. Not to facilitate a hatchet job on the creative arts. Not to undermine intellectual property. If we are considering protecting pre-16-year-olds from this tech, perhaps it’s time to consider jettisoning its
June-July 2026
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