Nation music legend Willie Nelson is talking out in opposition to constructing synthetic intelligence (AI) knowledge centres throughout the USA.
In an announcement shared to X on Tuesday, Nelson, 93, spoke about rising up in Abbott, Texas, and urged the group to “battle in opposition to knowledge facilities invading our land.”
“I grew up in Abbott, and I nonetheless have a house there with farmed land the place I can nonetheless see stars at evening,” Nelson wrote. “The very last thing we want is a loud, water thieving, gentle polluting, knowledge heart anyplace close to our city (or any others for that matter).”
“The energy of rural America has by no means come from large industrial footprints. It comes from generations of individuals, open areas, native enterprise, and a connection to the land,” he continued. “All of America deserves considerate stewardship that doesn’t steal farmland (the place our important shared-food is grown) and small household farmers’ livelihoods, and never knowledge facilities that solely destroy the atmosphere round them.”
Nelson inspired Individuals to “not enable our personal demise,” writing, “Whoever controls meals and water, controls the lots. Let’s not enable our personal demise or hand over management over needed assets within the U.S. and particularly in Abbott.”
Nelson’s feedback come following a proposed growth of as many as 56 knowledge centres in Central Texas, 45 in West Texas and 86 in North Texas, in accordance with the Texas Tribune.
The outlet stories that no less than 248 knowledge centre tasks are deliberate throughout the state of Texas.
The environmental footprint of information centres already rivals that of among the world’s largest nations, in accordance with a United Nations College report, which additionally predicts their water and power use and air pollution will double in simply 4 years as use of synthetic intelligence grows.
Get each day Nationwide information
Get each day Canada information delivered to your inbox so you will by no means miss the day’s high tales.
Final 12 months, international knowledge centres used 448 trillion watt-hours of electrical energy, greater than all however 10 nations on this planet, the report launched in June mentioned.
That electrical energy use produced about 208 million tons (189 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, about the identical quantity as Argentina, and producing that a lot power consumed about 1.2 trillion gallons (4.5 trillion litres) of water, in accordance with the report on the environmental penalties of AI’s power use.
—With information from The Related Press
© 2026 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.