Before we build the next AI data center, we should answer 8 questions.

Before we build the next AI data center, we should answer 8 questions.

Not after construction.
Not in the next sustainability report.

Before the shovel goes into the ground.

1️⃣ How much water will it use — and from where?
2️⃣ How much electricity will it require — and who pays for the grid upgrades?
3️⃣ Can it turn down when the grid is under stress?
4️⃣ Whose land is being used — and who is affected?
5️⃣ What’s next door — a river, aquifer, forest, or neighborhood?
6️⃣ What are the public incentives worth per job actually created?
7️⃣ Who checks the commitments — and how often?
8️⃣ What happens if the data center closes? Who pays for cleanup?

These aren’t complicated questions.

But today, they aren’t always asked together, consistently, and early enough.
And that’s a problem.

AI data centers are becoming some of the largest infrastructure projects of the AI era.
They consume enormous amounts of electricity.
They require cooling.
They can consume significant amounts of water.
They occupy land.
And they become part of the communities and infrastructure around them.

This isn’t an argument against building them.
We need the infrastructure to power the future of AI.

But we need a better contract between AI infrastructure and the communities that host it.
That’s why in my latest episode of Agentic AI — the future of intelligent systems, I propose an AI Siting Ledger — a shared eight-question framework that puts the numbers, commitments, and accountability on the table before construction begins.

Because sustainability reporting tells us what happened.

The AI Siting Ledger asks what will happen — before we approve it.

And as agentic AI becomes more autonomous and persistent, the demand for compute will only grow.

The future of intelligence isn’t just a software problem.
It is a physical infrastructure problem.

🎙️ I’ve explored this in my latest podcast episode:
The AI Data Center Problem — What Does Intelligence Take?

👉 Spotify podcast link in the description below.

What would you add to the eight questions?

#AgenticAI #AIInfrastructure #DataCenters #GreenAI #Sustainability #AI Green Software Foundation