The technological arms race between the US and China may be hindered by growing resistance to new data centers and the power needed to run them. According to a top executive, the US risks slowing its own technological progress more than falling behind Beijing.
Shyam Sankar, Palantir's chief technology officer, argues that power and backlash against data centers are the primary issues. His company builds software for the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and major manufacturers. Sankar believes the US is more likely to slow its technological progress due to resistance to data centers.
The US and China are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, viewing it as crucial for economic growth, military power, and geopolitical influence. Winning the AI race requires a massive buildout of data centers, power generation, and transmission infrastructure. However, these projects have sparked growing local opposition due to concerns about electricity demand, water use, and the costs.
Communities across the country are resisting the development of new data centers, citing issues such as electricity demand, water consumption, noise, and traffic. Some projects have been delayed or canceled, while lawmakers in several states have proposed restrictions or moratoriums on new facilities.
Some developers are addressing these concerns by pairing new data centers with dedicated power generation. Shyam Sankar argues that these debates risk slowing the industrial gains that AI can already deliver. He points to a submarine-parts manufacturer that cut production planning from two weeks to less than an hour, freeing up capacity to add a third shift.
The Palantir summit focused on showcasing the benefits of AI in the workplace. Factory workers, healthcare workers, and military personnel demonstrated software they had built to solve problems in their own workplaces. Shyam Sankar believes the AI industry has become overly focused on pursuing artificial general intelligence, rather than deploying today's AI systems across the economy.
Artificial general intelligence refers to a still-theoretical system capable of performing a broad range of intellectual tasks at or beyond human level. Shyam Sankar compared the current moment to the early days of electricity, arguing that technology already exists but businesses have yet to reorganize themselves around it.
The summit brought together a cohort of Palantir's American Tech Fellowship, where workers from various industries demonstrated AI applications they had built for use in their jobs. The goal was to illustrate that AI will make workers more productive than ever, rather than replacing them.
