What on earth is going on in the Stop The Data Centres group?

I'm excited to share a guest post I commissioned about AI and data centres. I think it speaks to a much broader subject: What are we willing to give up in order to save others? To save ourselves?

How much 'inconvenience' will we tolerate for a liveable future? I am a known AI hater, so I always wanted to share the ways AI is impacting us all. That includes the enormous environmental impact.

Soaring energy use and enormous water consumption are the price paid for AI. Is it really worth it? Researchers have estimated that a ChatGPT query consumes about five times more electricity than a simple web search. With Google being destroyed by AI, we will see it replace web searches. Which means more electricity being used, more data centres, more fossil fuels.

So what would move the dial when it comes to stopping people from using AI?

Parts of Europe are facing an unprecedented heat wave, we have had storm after storm here with much of the country still trying to recover as you read this, so this feels timely.

I was also gutted to see AI tributes to Sam Neil who like all creatives hated AI and was a champion for the environment.

Anyway, I know this will be an uncomfortable read for some. But I think maybe we all need to sit in that discomfort.

Thank you, Pinky Fang, for this piece. Pinky is a Pōneke born and raised artist and activist who hates capitalism but loves community

Arohanui, Emily

Most people who grew up without lead paint as a staple in their diet can tell you that Facebook in 2026 is one of the last places you’ll find a sane, well-reasoned opinion on just about anything. 

I only go there when I’m in an especially self-punishing mood, and the algorithm always delivers.

Nine times out of ten, my rage is well and truly baited, and today was no different. 

I’ve gotten pretty sharp at recognising AI-generated images these days, partly due to my forays into the Bad Place and my experience and background in graphic art, illustration and design. 

So when a post from a group called STOP DATA CENTRES NZ pops up on my feed, I can immediately spot that the image has been AI-generated. 

It’s not particularly horrific as far as AI images go, but it's just homogenous and soulless enough to have all the hallmarks of a design generated in the depths of hell, also known as a Data Centre. 

The sheer irony of it all is enough to have me questioning my AI-eye, as well as my sanity. I check the rest of the group - maybe I am mistaken? Perhaps once I see the rest of this growing grassroots group’s ‘branding’, I will realise they have appropriately hired a graphic designer to really push their Anti AI, Anti Data Centre stance? 

I do not find that.

I find numerous infographics posted by admin and members of the distinct slop variety. I eventually find that one of their members has kindly AI-generated them the following truly righteous image, and a comment from the admin confirms that their logo was ‘formulated’ based on it. 

Kind of them to ask permission from the original ‘artist’.

I am surprised to find that not a single person has commented to point out this glaring hypocrisy. 

I leave a comment on their post. Perhaps they genuinely don’t realise the correlation between the increasing use of AI and the increasing number of data centres?? Perhaps the members can’t spot an AI-bomination from a mile away as I can? It seems like a good time to mention I am legally blind and managed to see it...

I await the approval of my comment, but first, I have to apply for and be approved for membership. In the meantime, I scroll through what’s publicly viewable to try to gain some insight. 

On the surface, it appears the admins do seem to understand the correlation. They have several posts specifically about AI, and one of their most fervent members has generated images of ominous-looking data warehouses with "AI" emblazoned across them.

I find that they’ve created a petition on change.org under the same name of the group that they’re encouraging their members to sign. The issues outlined in the petition appear to be comprehensive and well-researched.

I run the text through an AI Detector. It’s 97% AI generated. 

There are a few different angles that I’m gathering from members. Mostly, they seem worried about the effect of these behemoth processing centres on our environment. These centres need a lot of space - and they need a lot of water. There is concern for our native wildlife. 

There are more conspiratorial takes, which ratchet all the way up to some people insisting that these are not ‘Data Centres’ for AI at all, but a front for a mass surveillance system right under our noses.

This is not entirely untrue, but not in the way that they think. These data centres are absolutely being built to sustain the processing power that widespread use of AI necessitates, AND the AI systems themselves are 100% a way to facilitate and normalise mass surveillance. 

The problem is that, with this in mind, many in this group seem to see no issue with feeding all of their personal data directly into the belly of the beast via chatbots and image generators. 

I think back to another situation a few days before this facebook self flagellation session where I was drawn into a different but very similar confused/angry situation. 

Napier City had posted bemoaning the ‘AI epidemic of event marketing’. 'Can we all agree it’s time to stop?' they asked. The post is AI. The text on the post is generated by AI. It includes an AI-generated graphic. 

In this case, many people have pointed out in the comments the irony, but according to Napier City in its increasingly salty replies, 'That’s the point!' It’s meant to show ‘What not to do’. 

The problem with this take is that, for all intents and purposes, the result is the same. They used, and posted, AI to get their message across - ‘clever’ irony or not. 

They could have hired a creative to design this post, making this point while maintaining the integrity of the core message.

Napier City even had the gall to ask in the comments, 'How can we better showcase our local creatives?'

PAY THEM TO DESIGN YOUR GRAPHICS. IT’S THAT FUCKING EASY!

Up until now, even minimum-wage local council social media managers have managed to communicate effectively online without the use of AI. What has happened to everyone? 

Back at SDCNZ on Facebook, I find my pending comment has disappeared. Perhaps this was a Facebook glitch. I drop another extremely reasonable comment pointing out and querying their stance on AI use, and send through another membership request. 

I check back an hour later to find I have been blocked. 

After my foray into the folds of SDCNZ, I have come to a few conclusions. 

I do think the people in this group are genuinely opposed to Data Centres in Aotearoa. But many of them seem to have forgotten the most crucial role they can personally play in this negotiation. 

It seems to me that they have seen the terrible impacts overseas and don’t want that for us. Not In My Back Yard. As long as it is happening far away (for now), it's not their problem to bear, and for that reason, they can excuse their own complicity in their AI use. 

I've spent the last few years trying to convince everyone that consumer boycotts are a tool that we can effectively use to help defund a genocide. I've found something to be true quite often: The majority of people really don’t want to give up things that are convenient to them, and they will make any excuse under the sun to avoid it. 

People don’t want these Data centres here. And they will sign petitions until their hands are numb to push back against it, but unfortunately, while AI is profitable because people are using it, these centres are inevitable. Which is exactly what the tech lords have been threatening.

The truth is, I still believe every little action and boundary we make, individually and collectively, does add up. And the only way we can truly resist all of the terrible implications on our environment and well-being is to reject AI wholesale. 

No cheeky little look at what you might look like as a cartoon character.

No using it as a substitute for human connection.

No, using it for things you easily managed just a few years ago.

And certainly not, ever, for a logo for your anti-Data Centre movement. 

I've been thinking about climate 'eco-warrior' Robin Treadwell. I don't know her, but I read an inspiring interview about her. She became a climate activist after the birth of her granddaughter.

She said something that has really stayed with me -

“I thought to myself, ‘I’m not too old to do something’, and for Ella’s [her granddaughter's] sake and all of her peers, I need to do what I can to let people know what is really going on. Climate change had been peripheral to my life before then, and it was a real light-bulb moment."

“If we have to put up with a bit of inconvenience in order to leave a liveable future for the next generation, that’s fine with me."

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