The construction of an artificial intelligence data centre on a 141-hectare tract of farmland southeast of Winnipeg will not proceed, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says.
The immense scale of the project, the energy it will require, and its effects on the community of Île-des-Chênes outweigh the benefits, Kinew told reporters at the Manitoba legislature.
“There’s a big threat to the environment and not much benefit to the economy,” Kinew said at a June 4 press conference.
He said he has reservations about future demand for such large-scale centres, considering the advancements in computing.
“I reject the idea that we have to be slaves to surveillance capitalism in order to participate in the modern economy, and so the message to any company out there should be, if you want to have a thoughtful, human-centred approach to technology, come to Manitoba, because that’s what we’re interested in,” Kinew said. “We’re not going to move ahead.”…