Pulitzer Center Update September 11, 2026
Data Center Pushback in Chile, Spain, and Mexico
Project
The Backyard of AI
The boom of generative AI has launched tech giants into a race to increase their computing...
When communities in Chile found out that three data centers were planned for their backyards, they launched a campaign to educate the public about the potential impact of these mega construction projects.
As AI infrastructure accelerates around the world, we are increasingly seeing citizens push back, asking their elected officials to slow down and prioritize community needs.
I spoke with Pulitzer Center AI Accountability Fellow Pablo Jiménez Arandia about his project The Backyard of AI, where his team investigated hyper-scale data center development in Chile, Spain, and Mexico.
“One of the major challenges in investigating the physical infrastructure surrounding the artificial intelligence boom is the lack of transparency,” Jiménez said.
The Backyard of AI was a collaboration between Jiménez, grantee Muriel Alarcón, and journalist Daniela Dib.
In each location, they discovered distinct responses from civilians and varying transparency laws to support the pushback.
“One interesting thing we observed in the case of Chile is how local communities have, in many cases, become experts on how this industry operates, because they have done the painstaking work of reviewing the hundreds or thousands of pages that projects of this type entail,” Jiménez said.
They found that companies often built data centers in communities that are already facing economic hardships and inequality.
“If the project was as wonderful as they were saying, then they could go build it in an upscale neighborhood,” said Patricio Hernández, a resident and activist in Chile.
Data centers will be a central focus of Pulitzer Center events at Climate Week NYC (September 20-27), where we will discuss how climate issues are shaping decisions about infrastructure, technology, energy, natural resources, and public policy. Jiménez’s reporting has also laid the foundation for new training modules for journalists on how to investigate data centers, as part of the Center’s AI Spotlight Series curriculum.
The full environmental impacts of data centers have yet to be seen, Jiménez said.
“We still need the perspective of a few years. We’re talking about hyperscale data centers, which are relatively new,” Jiménez said.
Read the full interview here or watch Jiménez explain his project on Instagram here.
Ella Beiser
Publishing Assistant
This message appeared in the September 11, 2026, edition of the Pulitzer Center's weekly newsletter.
