There’s a reason AI is attracting literally trillions of dollars in investment, and is being hyped as the next big thing.
It’s because people who manage massive investment portfolios have been convinced that AI will replace millions – maybe billions – of jobs, and will be used for absolutely everything.
Are they correct? Not so far. But the industry gets its power from hype, and a sense of inevitability.
And while the hype grows, they are spending hundreds of billions to amass access to land, water, and fossil fuels.
A single data centre planned for rural Alberta — headed up by “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, no less — will be fueled by fracked gas and generate the same climate toxic emissions as adding 6 million new fossil fuel-burning cars to the road.
There are dozens of plans for new data centres across Canada.
That’s what we call “upstream” effects of AI infrastructure. The “downstream” effects of AI can be just as devastating: mental health crises, workplace surveillance, price-gouging, and new forms of gender violence – harms that reach into the most intimate corners of our lives.
That’s why we’re bringing together civil society to confront these impacts at the Civil Society Summit on the AI Industry.
At the Summit, you’ll hear from Indigenous leaders, environmental and water‑justice advocates, labour organizers, researchers, journalists, cultural workers, and community groups – all working to ensure decisions about technology don’t come at the expense of our climate, our water, our public services, or our rights.
