An economic opportunity, or an energy crisis in waiting? Data centers are coming to Massachusetts.

Have you used AI today? Or, more likely: How many times have you used AI today?

Whether it’s ChatGPT or a simple Google search, AI is getting faster, more pervasive, and harder to avoid. And all that comes with a cost. Data processing of this magnitude requires a staggering amount of electricity, at a time when households in Massachusetts are already reeling from high utility bills and the state is trying to wean itself off fossil fuels to combat climate change.

“I have major concerns about data centers,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for the advocacy group the Acadia Center. In other parts of the country, where data centers are being rapidly built, he said, “they just end up driving up costs for everyone else — they get a favorable rate, and then average citizens end up paying more.”

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.