Datacenter secrecy is backfiring as AI opposition turns local, column argues

A column in The Register argues datacenter operators have damaged themselves through “denial and distraction” and need “a new contract of candour” with critics. The piece contends that opening up datacenter engineering calculations and the decisions shaping the future would build honesty and trust while creating more and better options. It also argues datacenters are inherently local and therefore vulnerable to local politics, making them an obvious focus for opposition to AI. The column presents open-source datacenters as a practical alternative to an industry it portrays as secretive, and claims the sector is operating “on the edge of sanity.”