Governor Hochul recently signed an executive order for a one year moratorium on AI data centers. And while this is a good first step. This is not enough.
The legislature needs to work really hard in the next year so that we have protections for our communities in place when the moratorium ends.
Let's be honest, AI can be incredibly beneficial. It's good for efficiency. It's helped a lot in research and in my field. It helps reduce the documentation burden. However, there's a lot of areas where we don't need AI, and yet we don't have a chance to opt out. And we don't always know that it's occurring behind the scenes.
When I'm in Albany, I will propose legislation to require tech companies to allow consumers to opt out whether it's from emails, searches, social media, whatever...
Also, anytime a new AI data center is proposed, we need to make sure that there are protections in place so that the cost to the community for utilities isn't rising and that our environmental protections are in place for water, light, noise as well as air quality. And this can all affect our property values.
Lastly, no AI data center should be getting tax breaks. This burden should not be shouldered by the communities. These industries need to pay their fair share.
