AI data centres could be Australia’s next sovereignty test
While Australia should be cautious about the challenges the data centre boom poses, we are well positioned to become a trusted AI-ready data hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
Almost a decade ago, Stephen Hawking warned that the creation of powerful artificial intelligence would be either the best or worst thing ever to happen to humanity. At the time, his words were met with a combination of awe, scepticism and curiosity. This was long before the advent of ChatGPT and DeepSeek, before “AI washing” and “slop” entered the lexicon and before the data centre gold rush.
Today Hawking’s words can no longer be dismissed by sceptics. The outsized impact that AI data centres, for example, will have around the world is still being realised.
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The Australian Financial Review’s succinct take on the principles at stake in major domestic and global stories – and what policy makers should do about them.
