THE SUPPLY of capital is not the only constraint(限制，制约因素) on the investment of America’s AI companies. They must also worry about politics. In growing numbers and with growing fury, American voters oppose the building of data centres, which provide the computing power to train and run AI models. The opposition spans the nationalist right and the environmentalist left. Such is the backlash that the infrastructure has become one of the defining issues of this year’s midterm elections.(抵制浪潮如此强烈，以至于基础设施成为今年中期选举的决定性问题之一。) Politicians are racing to outdo one another with restrictions, moratorium(暂停，中止)s and bans on building. Voters and politicians alike are making a big mistake.
资本的供应并非美国人工智能公司投资的唯一制约因素。它们还必须担心政治。越来越多的美国选民以越来越强烈的愤怒反对建设数据中心，而数据中心正是训练和运行人工智能模型所需的计算能力来源。这种反对声音涵盖了民族主义右翼和环保主义左翼。抵制浪潮如此强烈，以至于基础设施已成为今年中期选举的决定性问题之一。政客们竞相推出限制、暂停和禁止建设的措施，以超越对方。选民和政客 alike 都在犯一个大错误。
One popular myth is that data centres guzzle(狂饮，大量消耗) more water than Agastya(阿加斯提亚，印度圣人，传说中喝干海洋)—an argument helped along by(被...推动，由...助长) the grossly(极其，严重地) inaccurate calculations of a bestselling book. In reality, a mid-sized data centre uses roughly as much water as two golf courses and considerably less if it recycles its water, as many now do. And there is no reason to single out(单独挑出，特别指出) AI: just about everything in modern life, from streaming Netflix to running a dishwasher, consumes water at levels that can be portrayed as wasteful by hair-shirt(苦行的，自我惩罚的) environmentalists. Google has calculated that the median Gemini text prompt consumes about five drops, meaning even tens of thousands of AI queries would consume less water than a minute in the shower.(谷歌计算出，Gemini文本提示的中位消耗约五滴水，这意味着即使数万次AI查询消耗的水也少于淋浴一分钟。)
一个流行的神话是，数据中心比阿加斯提亚消耗更多的水——这一论点得益于一本畅销书极其不准确的计算。实际上，一个中型数据中心用水量大约相当于两个高尔夫球场，如果像许多数据中心那样回收用水，则用水量会少得多。而且没有理由单独挑出人工智能：现代生活中几乎所有事物，从流媒体播放Netflix到运行洗碗机，都以可能被苦行环保主义者描绘为浪费的水平消耗水。谷歌计算得出，Gemini文本提示的中位消耗约五滴水，这意味着即使数万次人工智能查询消耗的水也少于淋浴一分钟。
Concerns over electricity use are more numerate(有计算能力的，理性的): data centres really do need a striking(惊人的，显著的) amount of power. However, there is little evidence so far(迄今为止) that they have raised energy prices. In fact, by increasing demand they are spreading the fixed costs of infrastructure among more kilowatt-hour(千瓦时)s sold. In recent weeks a number of large utilities(公用事业公司) have linked data centres to reductions in bills. Many data centres are also helping finance new sources of generation.
对电力使用的担忧更为理性：数据中心确实需要惊人的电力。然而，迄今为止几乎没有证据表明它们提高了能源价格。事实上，通过增加需求，它们将基础设施的固定成本分摊到更多售出的千瓦时上。最近几周，一些大型公用事业公司将数据中心与账单减少联系起来。许多数据中心也在帮助资助新的发电来源。