WHOSE AI DATA CENTER LINE IS IT ANYWAY? PROPOSING A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK TO PROVIDE REDRESS TO COMMUNITIES IMPACTED BY THE EXTERNALITIES OF AI

Authors

• Jane Franks

Abstract

In some ways, artificial intelligence is not new. Humans have theorized and dreamed about AI in some form or another for thousands of years. However, as AI becomes a reality and both companies and countries alike are racing to establish dominance in the field, AI does not feel too familiar. The increased amounts of power and water required by AI data centers are unprecedented, and the federal and state legislative response to the issues facing the communities surrounding AI data centers—and the country at large—has been fragmented at best, and non-existent at worst. This Note examines the externalities of AI, discusses how the current regulatory landscape fails to meet the present moment of AI, particularly for low-income communities, and proposes a regulatory framework to manage the impacts of environmental and infrastructural externalities of AI on communities through compensation, mitigation, and enforcement.

Recommended Citation

Jane Franks, WHOSE AI DATA CENTER LINE IS IT ANYWAY? PROPOSING A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK TO PROVIDE REDRESS TO COMMUNITIES IMPACTED BY THE EXTERNALITIES OF AI, 34 J. L. & Pol'y 230 (2026).
Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol34/iss2/6