Local councils are calling for the construction of AI data centers to be frozen

Local governments are calling for a moratorium on licensing data centers, a cap on how they can be built and a limit on where they can be built, warning that the AI-powered construction boom is depriving housing developments of water and electricity and creating few long-term jobs.

As the federal government looks to speed up the construction of data centers in Australia, three city councilors have told a government inquiry into the fallout from the uncoordinated explosion of 88 data centers being built across Sydney and their fears about the scale of future development.