Erin Brockovich Takes on AI Datacenters

In 1993, Erin Brockovich secured a $333m settlement from a Californian energy company in a scandal over contaminated water. Three decades later, she has set her sights on a new target – the global AI datacenter industry. When Erin Brockovich woke to find 30 emails from people from the same town, she realised something was going on.

People email Brockovich all the time because of what happened in 1993, when she was instrumental in suing Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) on behalf of residents of the town of Hinkley, California, whose groundwater had been contaminated. The case resulted in a settlement of $333m – then the largest ever payout for a direct-action lawsuit. When she was immortalised by Julia Roberts in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, she became the hero we didn’t know we needed, a modern day Joan of Arc.

She had won against PG&E with no formal legal training. The emails she received a few weeks ago were about datacentres. In April, she put a callout on her website asking for anyone with concerns about one near them to get in touch.

Within a month, 3,862 people had replied. Tech companies have needed datacentres to power their technology “for ever”, she says, but the new ones being built to power AI? “This feels like Hinkley on steroids.” Why this matters: Erin Brockovich's crusade against AI datacenters highlights the growing unease about the environmental and health impacts of the rapidly expanding AI industry.

As AI technology becomes increasingly pervasive, the demand for datacenters to power it will only grow, raising concerns about energy consumption, water usage, and e-waste. Brockovich's involvement could galvanize a wider movement, pushing tech companies to prioritize sustainability and transparency in their datacenter operations. For developers, businesses, and consumers, this means a need to reevaluate the true costs of AI adoption and consider the long-term implications of our reliance on datacenters.

Ultimately, Brockovich's battle against AI datacenters raises important questions about the accountability and responsibility that come with technological progress. Will the AI industry be able to balance innovation with environmental and social responsibility, or will Brockovich's efforts spark a larger reckoning?