Are You Subsidizing AI Data Centers?, w/ Ari Peskoe

Here’s a concise Apple Podcasts/Buzzsprout-ready version based on the Ari Peskoe transcript and its timestamps.

Are ordinary people helping pay for Big Tech’s AI build-out?

In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School, about the growing fight over AI data centers, electricity demand, and who should pay for the infrastructure behind the AI boom.

As AI usage grows from simple chatbot prompts to more compute-heavy agentic workflows, data centers are becoming one of the most visible and controversial parts of the AI economy. We explore why these facilities require so much power, how they can strain local grids, and why the costs of new power plants, transmission lines, and utility upgrades may end up being spread across ordinary ratepayers.

Ari helps us unpack the utility business model, the role of public utility commissions, the PJM electricity market, and the strange economics of marginal cost, where the last and most expensive electron can affect prices for everyone. We also discuss whether data centers are paying their fair share, how communities are reacting, and what policy changes could help make sure the costs of AI infrastructure are more transparent and fairly allocated.

We also get into the local environmental concerns around data centers, including water use, diesel backup generators, noise, construction impacts, greenhouse gas emissions, and the tension between clean energy pledges and the speed of AI-driven demand growth.

Guest
Ari Peskoe — Director, Electricity Law Initiative, Harvard Law School

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