What is recognized today as the world’s first computer was unveiled in 1946. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was enormous, requiring 1,800 square feet or about the size of the typical two-bedroom house. The entire system weighed 30 tons.
ENIAC could do what was then considered to be a jaw-dropping 5,000 calculations per second.
To give you some idea of how quickly technology advances, stroll by your local card shop and pick up one of those musical greeting cards. The microchip embedded in one of those cards can perform roughly 1 million calculations per second. It can fit in an envelope and weighs about three ounces. Who could have imagined that in 1946?
The ENIAC cost about $8 million in today’s dollars. You can buy a musical greeting card for a few bucks.
At the time it was unveiled, ENIAC was considered a technological wonder, yet it took only a few years for technology to render ENIAC technically inferior, and exactly nine years to become completely obsolete and shut down.
It might be wise to keep in mind the story of ENIAC as we contemplate the boom of another technology and what it takes to operate it.
All across the country, tech companies are building artificial intelligence data centers, and Mississippi has been particularly aggressive in bringing them to our state. Measured by planned AI data centers, power capacity and financial investments, Mississippi has vaulted into the top 10 states in AI infrastructure growth.
There are four AI data centers in various stages of construction. Amazon Web Services is building a massive AI data center in central Mississippi, a $22 billion investment. Elon Musk’s xAI is building a $20 billion campus in Southaven.
They are massive, with roughly the same footprint as 14 football fields.
To lure these developments to Mississippi, the state turns to what it always has done: bribery.
The state is providing a 10-year tax exemption while the cities hosting these sites provide generous fee-in-lieu deals.
What do we get in return? After construction, which may or may not employ local labor, these projects create fewer than 100 permanent jobs.
To ensure these developments actually benefit Mississippians rather than serving as handouts to the world’s wealthiest corporations, the state should insist on a “Citizens’ Bill of Demands” for any data center receiving incentives:
Fair taxation: Companies must pay their full share of taxes, not receive exemptions.
Long-term Commitment: A mandatory 20-year occupancy agreement to prevent these facilities from becoming ghost towns.
Local labor: A requirement to prioritize Mississippi contractors for all construction and maintenance.
Energy responsibility: Full compensation for the power grid capacity these centers consume, either through infrastructure investment or direct fees.
Transparency: Open, public reporting on energy usage and environmental impact (something written out of the state’s AI laws by the legislature).
Accountability: Guarantees against pollution and noise..
Grid stability: Guaranteed operational protocols that prevent brownouts or blackouts for local residents.
Currently, Mississippi imposes none of these conditions. For the average Mississippi citizen, these deals represent little more than a sweetheart deal to Big Tech companies, which are already enormously wealthy.
Across the country, residents where these facilities operate are currently subsidizing the immense power demands of AI giants through higher utility bills and diminished legal transparency. Since the facilities run 24/7 and cannot be easily taken offline, these centers may result in brownouts or blackouts when the grid is in crisis due to extreme heat or cold.
Trump’s Department of Justice is moving to block lawsuits to hold AI companies accountable for pollution and noise.
Let’s return to the story of ENIAC, which should be a cautionary tale.
Like these data centers, ENIAC required enormous space. Thirty-six years later, superior computing could be found in a greeting card.
By the time these AI data centers begin paying their fair share of taxes, what is to say the same dynamic might occur? Big Tech may bail on these facilities once they are no longer needed unless they are contractually committed.
These AI data centers may turn out to be very bad deals for average Mississippians.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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