To the editor:

The two articles about data centers in Saturday, Sept. 19’s Lawrence Journal-World are excellent and definitely worth serious consideration. An interesting statistic about data centers across America is that originally 7,000 of them were proposed; 4,000 have already been built. Personally I think approval for building data centers should be given — but only if construction and operation does not negatively impact the environment, or in one or more ways can actually enhance the environment. In my opinion the companies constructing data centers should be wealthy enough to take good care of the environment, maybe even starting environmentally beneficial programs.

I highly recommend to anyone interested in this topic the book “The Coming Wave” (copyright 2023, Crown Publishing Group) by Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI. He makes several things very clear, including the fact that the wave of new technology led by AI is already washing over us, and in the long run there is no stopping it. Throughout the book he uses the words “guardrails,” “containment” and “regulations.” He clearly explains how the new technologies enabled by AI can be misused, and he strongly supports national and international legislation to stop and restrict the dangers of misuse.

Charles B. Gilmore,

Lawrence