More and more mainstream analysts are identifying the coming AI crash, which is a good indication that it will happen soon.
So, what happens to all the data centers? They are already built but probably very expensive to maintain. Will many of them just be abandoned? Bought up by cloud computing companies? Scammers? Crypto miners? Can they be parted out and sold off piecemeal?
Will they be put to some productive use, or just become massive e-waste sites left to the locals to deal with?
Apparently the US government is looking to give a massive bailout under the guise of “public partnership” so the public will pay for them and then corporations will get to use them and not pay us more than likely. They’ll be put to use, we’ll pay for them to take our jobs. It’s really the best situation possible…
/Wrist
Survielllance centers for all the data being stolen off your smartphone and flock cameras.
If anyone thinks I’m wrong, they’re completely blind to what’s going on and their future plan.
Survielllance centers for all the data being stolen off your smartphone and flock cameras.
Yes, and other sources. That’s my theory as to why most of them are being built in the first place, regardless of AI.
I dont believe its a theory. Its absolute fact. Why else would they be requiring cameras in all cars next year, and putting flock cameras all over every city? That surveillance data needs to be stored and sorted through. This is the real reason for the massive push of data centers and bribery of politicians.
Yes, they’ve been wanting to do it for many years, even before 9/11 but especially after (remember “Total Information Awareness”?–back then the backlash stopped them, but now the populace has been mostly tamed and made compliant). So now with AI/LLM they have not only the perfect cover to build the datacenters but also the means to process all that data–never mind hallucinations, they’re fine with that too.
We can only hope for an Anonymous level sabotage group.
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A golden age for laser tag arenas
I would prefer a roller rink revival myself, but laser tag is fun too.
Ok hear me out: Roller laser tag!
grils! grils! there’s plenty of floorspace for both!
Indoor airsoft/paintball too, provided it’s purged of MAGA cosplayers
Get ready for the 2040 internet trend “spending the night in an abandoned data center”
Horror movie idea: The Rackrooms
The Racks
Has a good double entendre for horror
They will just turn all the empty space inside into detention centers and keep all of us locked up.
The ones being built or planned to be built will have to be sold off.
Probably not abadndoned, but land owner changing several hands in what is essentially someone buying a vacant lot. Maybe a handful will reuse any existing building already made, but most will be used for something new.
The existing ones will start their fight to the lowest market price which will probably cause many to either sell to a different cloud provider or change hardware to something more profitable.
None of the electronic hardware will go to waste because there will always be a demand for it, even if they sell it off at a loss. But any permanent fixtures like industrial cabling, ventilation, piping, etc probably will be wasted.
There’s still no guarantee on whether it’ll implode or just slowly deflate though. The natural assumption would be that the post IPO pricing will completely wreck sales and value, but they could easily move to an enterprise vendor lock scenario where they can charge whatever they want due to tech stack deals like how MSFT runs teams.
Remember, they’ll do anything in their power to keep the pumping going, even if it involves tax bailouts.
Hire funny wood it be if they tried to get a tax bail out and Trump approved it but he actually can’t do it since there’s no money left to bail them out
Hopefully the used storage would flood the market and drive down prices.
I think thats wishful thinking. I don’t think that most of what goes in a modern datacenter has much use outside of a datacenter.
Cheap datacenters for sale to the surviving AI companies. It’s not like all things AI will disappear just because the bubble pops.
In past crypto busts, Nvidia bought used datacenter GPUs and threw them away, to keep prices of new cards high.
They will undoubtedly do this again. Probably AMD/Intel too.
And “FOMO” style crypto mining sites were just abandoned or repurposed AFAIK.
But honestly, I don’t know what will happen now. Especially to the “quick and dirty” sites like Meta’s server tents, all the supposedly temporary evaporative cooling/gas generators and such.
Used server GPUs are still pretty good processors for all sorts of things. I would guess that Nvidia pivots towards robotics and“business virtual reality,” kinda like they’re already pivoting towards more utilitarian LLMs with the Nemotron releases, so maybe the surviving GPUs will get used for that.
After 2008 whole half-built neighborhoods were just left to rot and abandoned.
That’ll happen with data centers too.
If they’re abandoned, they could be filled with storage containers, and people could live in them. I hear access to water and electricity is already set up.
My doom scenario: They will become low security prisons/manufacturing factories.
Or Company Housing to go along with the Company Store where you will always be short 1 Company Buck to buy that half loaf of day old white bread…same thing, really.A boom in local AI as people buy the crazy expensive video cards for pennies on the dollar for home usage?
Press X to doubt
Yeah, these cards will most likely be in pieces rather than reused by people.
It’s also just that local AI is not worth the time and energy unless you’re a prick with too much money and incoherent ideology
Those gpu’s are not useful as video cards.
I said for local AI, I didnt say for gaming.
As long as you want a high wattage server running the electric bill up.
Hopefully, for the CEOs and people who made them happen,
I’d argue that “burning the guillotine” can happen after it makes its comeback, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
The worst punishment anyone could inflict on those who govern and police us today would be to compel them to live in a society in which everything they’ve done is regarded as embarrassing
They will stop pretending they’re data centers and we will start calling them what they really are, surveillance centers
