DAYS after the Government announced proposals to construct artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in Trinidad and Tobago, growing public concern over the possible environmental cost and strain on the country’s utilities saw thousands supporting a petition to suspend the projects pending consultation.

Within 24 hours of its launch, the change.org petition, which seeks to halt approvals for the proposed construction of a 300MW data centre to be developed by Ernst & Young LLP and a proposed 150MW artificial intelligence infrastructure and data-centre facility with potential expansion to 500MW by Hummingbird AI Holdings LLC, garnered at least 8,500 signatures. Overnight that figure surged above 13,000.

The Government over the weekend announced two Memoranda of Understanding on the development of these data centres, at a time when international tech companies continue to splurge on AI-related spending as part of what some experts have deemed an AI development boom. The spending to construct even more has since faced fierce backlash within international communities, and in the US where some states have called for moratoriums on data-centre development.