Savage Words: A.I. doesn’t mean the basketball player anymore

I went for a walk a few days ago, strolled through both the Augustana and USF campus. 

I went to USF a long time ago, and I also took a few classes at Augie as well. It’s funny, when you’re in the middle of it all in your late teens and early 20s, you don’t take a look around and appreciate the beauty of those campuses. 

Nestled between the two schools is Sunny’s Pizzeria, a tiny little spot on the corner of 26th and Walts in central Sioux Falls. When I went to school at USF, that little spot was a laundromat. Thankfully, for the good of late-night college cuisine, it’s transformed over the years.

One of the best things about Sunny’s is the marquee on the front of the store. It’s always worth a chuckle.

A few weeks ago. when I strolled past, its message really hit me. 

“I miss the days when A.I. stood for Allen Iverson”

Man, that is so true. For those of you that don’t know, Allen Iverson is a former NBA player, a two-time All-Star and the 2001 MVP. His nickname was “A.I.”

The first time someone talked to me about A.I., as in Artificial Intelligence, I thought they were talking about the basketball player. It was a weird conversation.

“What do you think of A.I.,” she asked me.

“He’s not very big,” I said. “But the dude can score.”

“What the hell are you talking about,” was the response, with a peculiar look on her face.

Needless to say, I missed the mark on that initial conversation. 

Over the years, I’ve heard of all the evils surrounding A.I. Not the basketball player, I’m sure he’s a good fella. But when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, I get why people are concerned. Job displacement, biased decision-making, the risk of autonomous weapons. You know, all things that can keep a guy up at night.

If there’s one profession that’s directly in the crosshairs of A.I.’s continued development, it’s that of a writer. So, of all people, my radar should go up when speaking of the dangers of A.I.

But I also know we’re never going back to an analog world. A.I. is here to stay, and evolve, and get more complex. Nothing we can do about it. We should embrace it, do our best to regulate it.

Data Center: it’s the new swear word. DC…almost as toxic as our nation’s capital. 

The talk of data centers is so volatile. It strikes a nerve for many, and understandably so. 

I’ve covered the data center storyline in this part of South Dakota since the talks first surfaced more than a year ago. I can tell you this: there is so much bad information out there, it’s no wonder people are frazzled and concerned. I doubt I’ll convince you otherwise, nor am I trying to.

Fear. That’s the way of the world today. It’s how we convince groups of people to think, or to vote, a certain way.

The argument against data centers because of the demand they’ll put on local waterways and subsequent water rates. It simply isn’t true. The water used in a data center is on a closed-loop system. Think of an auto’s radiator. Basically, the same thing.

Another fear regarding data centers is that utility rates will go up for surrounding communities. Again, simply not true. It’s been debunked over and over, and it’s been signed into law under Senate Bill 135, also known as the Data Center Bill of Rights. Any new power generated by – say Xcel Energy – is covered by the beneficiary of the energy increase. It’s called a Cost-Causer-Pay model, and if a data center were to come to this area, utility rates wouldn’t increase to legacy users, or those that are already on XCel’s grid. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is even on record saying some rates will actually come down for legacy users.

Here’s something else I know, for certain: 

Xcel Energy is going to sell their product to someone to build these data centers. If not South Dakota, then North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, or Texas is going to be a buyer. 

Our state is waaaaaayyyyy behind every other state that surrounds us in regards to the production of data centers. We’re leaving hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of millions of dollars on the table when we say no. 

As much as I really don’t like them, if for nothing else, the fact that they could someday take over the craft in which I’ve made my living. Oh, and the whole autonomous weapons thing also scares the crap out of me.

But it’s time, South Dakota. Our world isn’t going backwards, and data centers should come to our community.

Now, if I lived in The Bluffs on the west side of Brandon, I’m fairly certain I’d want to have a chat with me too.

But there’s also one more thing that I do know: that’s not the right spot for one.