The Race for AI Leads to a Brick Wall

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, even if you did not invite it into your life.

Good Faith Media has long used recording software to catalog meetings for production or internal research. We were thrilled when we discovered software that would record and transcribe our meetings for later use. The feature helped our producers with editing and staff with recalling critical information during important meetings.

The software was like having our very own digital stenographer in the corner. But then, something changed.

GFM’s digital stenographer no longer waited for an invitation into the meeting. They just showed up without being invited. We could kick them out, of course, but to disable this function took a computer science degree.

We then noticed AI showing up in other areas of our lives where it was not invited.

Each new AI was given a cute name to humanize it: Gemini, Grok, Claude, Siri, Alexa, Copilot, Perplexity and ChatGPT, with more to come. These cute little AIs began infiltrating every piece of software imaginable. From calendars, emails and tasks to search engines, publishing and virtual meetings, AI seems to have taken over the digital world overnight.

Why? As always, follow the money.

According to International Data Corporation, “AI is projected to generate $22.5 trillion in cumulative economic value between 2025 and 2031.” Let’s draw this out for the reader. The number looks like this: $22,500,000,000,000.  

To put this into perspective, here are some states’ economies:

California, $4.25 trillion.

Texas, $2.90 trillion.

New York, $2.27 trillion.

Florida, $1.70 trillion.

Illinois, $1.10 trillion.

In other words, the top five states’ economies combined will not equal the cumulative economic growth AI is projected to generate by 2031.

No wonder AI is being shoved down the public’s throats. It truly is a “too big to fail” venture. Consequently, it should be no surprise that the ultra-wealthy are forcing the rest of us to accept and deal with it.

However, a resistance to AI is emerging. AI’s need for data centers is emerging as “the” issue for backlash. Axios recently reported on a survey conducted by Milltown Partners. 

Here are some of the findings:

• 38% of respondents said they would support building a data center near their home, while 34% would oppose it.
• Meanwhile, 49% support a moratorium on the construction of new data centers, while only 16% oppose it.
• Another 27% neither support nor oppose a moratorium, and 8% say they don’t know.
• Most opposition to data centers isn’t coming from neighbors. Only 8% of respondents who oppose data centers say they know of one or more near their home, the poll found.

Another important finding from Pew Research was that “two-thirds of planned data centers are in rural areas, even though 87% of existing data centers are in urban ones.” Tech companies promise job creation, but the entire AI strategy is to reduce the need for human workers and replace them with AI. Thus, these promises need further scrutiny.

These centers are massive. Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) is planning on launching the Prometheus data center in 2026. The center will dedicate an entire gigawatt of power to AI. According to The Economist, that’s enough to power as many as 1 million homes.  

Furthermore, “According to SemiAnalysis, another research firm, there are currently around a terawatt (1000GWs) of large-load grid-connection requests across American states, nearly all for data centers. That is equivalent to almost the entire capacity of the American electrical grid, which can produce a maximum of 1250GWs.”

Residents located near these proposed sites are not happy either, citing “the ugliness of the buildings; the roar of generators and cooling systems; the skeleton army of new transmission towers criss-crossing the landscape; the fear of contaminated water.”

Tech companies are attempting to reassure residents and critics. They are downplaying the environmental ramifications and the increases in power prices. This week, the House of Representatives is debating the Ratepayer Protection Act to ensure that consumers’ utility rates will not rise due to the centers.

In addition to issues related to data centers and economic impacts, another concern is AI’s intrusion into human creativity.

At Good Faith Media, we’ve been talking about the pros (and there are some) and cons of AI. When used appropriately, AI is a helpful tool for common tasks such as grammar and research (as long as humans interact with the research).

However, AI is forcing GFM to develop policies for the ethical use of AI. We are currently working on a statement that will be closely aligned with those of the Associated Press and The New York Times.  

AI should be a tool and not a replacement.

As the world’s tech companies and venture capitalists race to gain the upper hand in AI, many are concerned that the race will end up sending humanity and the economy into a brick wall.

The time is now for people of good faith to demand that tech companies and politicians tap the brakes on AI, ensuring the public is informed of guidelines and ethical standards for its use and implementation. Additionally, the public needs to be part of these developments.  

Tech companies and politicians should not have the last word. The public needs a say in AI’s future.

If I may adapt the words of Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, who once quipped, “Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backward.”

Finally, let me offer the 2026 RMR translation: “AI is merely providing us with more efficient means for going backward, replacing ourselves with machines that lead humanity into a brick wall of self-destruction.”