I live half a mile from a data center. Sometimes I can hear it; usually when it’s very hot or very cold and they (I assume) have to turn on the extra generator banks.

I lived in my house for years before I figured out that the sound I would hear came from a data center. I’d feel like I was going crazy, trying to figure out why I heard this…this…NOISE sometimes and couldn’t figure out for the life of me where it was coming from. It sounded like it came from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

I went on walks specifically to try to hunt down the source of the noise! And then one day I learned about the data center and it all came together in my head.

One day I went to look at the data center. It’s hulking and huge, looming above residential homes that surround it on all sides. I can only imagine how loud it is when the generators kick on and you live right next door to them. I’m a half mile away with trees in between and it’s still damn loud sometimes.

There was another night where the data center noise kicked up around 3 a.m. and woke my husband up. I awoke to see him looking confusedly out of all the windows.

What on earth is that noise and why does it sound like trucks on a highway? he said.

Oh, I replied, about that. We have a data center. It’s half a mile that way, over there.

This is not an AI-positive house. I’m not being a bitter writer; AI slop is a real problem on the internet. I’ve been asked to try to use AI on some specific projects and without fail, I myself can turn around a project or draft faster than the AI can.

The presence of AI is already lingering at the edge of my career, ready to disrupt it again (hat tip to the 2008 financial crisis that killed print news). And now it’s disrupting my sleep? No thank you.

But we have a small victory on our hands. A group of neighbors who live right up against said data center got support from a Yale legal clinic and successfully halted plans to expand said data center.

(The company wanted to add more generators, how fun.)

The freeze is only for a year. I plan to see how I can get involved to support these neighbors, as I’m just a stone’s throw away and can hear the damn thing myself.

But a year is better than nothing. The data center causes noise pollution, light pollution, and even flooding thanks to a retaining wall that disrupted natural runoff patterns.

And what do we get in return? Stress? Weird images? It’s not worth it for me. And I’m not being a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) about this—I don’t fancy any generative AI data centers at all.

But the next time I go past the data center near my house, I’m going to take a good look right into one of the security cameras and stick my tongue out at it. (I’m never anything but a consummate professional.)

The push against data centers continues in cities and towns throughout the country, but in this one, as a start, we have a little victory.