PETROVA | We Don’t Deserve AI
In an opinion column, Cornell student Mina Petrova argues that artificial intelligence harms education, democracy and economic equality. She highlights data centers’ water use and environmental impacts, citing a New York permit allowing TeraWulf to draw more than 1 million gallons of water daily from Cayuga Lake and the state’s one-year moratorium on new data center construction.
Cornell Daily Sun columnist Mina Petrova argues that artificial intelligence should be opposed because it can erode critical thinking, emotional development and democratic participation while concentrating wealth among technology companies and billionaires. She cites comments by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a town hall in Ithaca, where the congresswoman criticized efforts to outsource human cognition to AI systems.
Petrova also presents data centers as an environmental threat, pointing to their water consumption, heated wastewater, noise and effects on nearby communities and wildlife. She notes that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation approved a permit for TeraWulf to withdraw more than 1 million gallons of water per day from Cayuga Lake, while Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a one-year moratorium on data center construction in New York. The article is an opinion column rather than a report on a specific development decision.