# AI data centres, water lockdowns, and mass surveillance Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/jerm-warfare-7121194/ai-data-centres-water-lockdowns-and-mass-surveillance Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/jerm-warfare-7121194/ai-data-centres-water-lockdowns-and-mass-surveillance.md Podcast: [Jerm Warfare](https://stenobird.com/podcast/jerm-warfare-7121194) Published: 2026-08-21T07:29:00+00:00 Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/jerm-warfare-2025/3085104 Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/303972/3085104/jerm-warfare-2025/2026_08_21_07_03_52_7b25a41d-89b4-4b6b-ba5a-07a5d7f6fba3.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/jerm-warfare-7121194/episodes/ai-data-centres-water-lockdowns-and-mass-surveillance Duration seconds: 12956 ## Resource AI data centres are being built everywhere, and they are straining our electricity and water supplies. It is serious enough that the UN has called Ireland a "cautionary tale" for the rest of the world, while Irish regulators have warned of rolling blackouts if data centre demand is not brought under control. Data centres now account for around 23% of Ireland's entire electricity usage. ChatGPT, as another example, uses more electricity than 117 countries combined. But what is the truth? Are these data centres really being used by ordinary people, or is something else going on? ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/jerm-warfare-7121194/episodes/ai-data-centres-water-lockdowns-and-mass-surveillance/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/jerm-warfare-7121194/ai-data-centres-water-lockdowns-and-mass-surveillance.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.