Can Australia Be a Leader in Sustainable Data Centres?
ABC News
ENRICHED
Details
- Date Published
- 29 May 2026
- Priority Score
- 2
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 30 May 2026, 12:00 am
Description
This week OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman declared Australia could be a world leader in AI data centres.
While Pope Leo XIV laid out a sweeping vision and a warning to safeguard humanity from AI's most harmful effects.
Dozens of data centres are popping up on the fringes of our major cities, and big tech is lobbying the federal government to seize the opportunity and support their construction.
But there are concerns that the trillion dollar industry is risking our environment, energy security, drinking water and copyright laws.
Can big tech do this differently with the right regulations?
Summary
This discussion examines the environmental and infrastructure challenges posed by the rapid expansion of AI data centres in Australia, following Sam Altman's suggestion that the country could be a global leader in the field. While the expansion focuses on economic and power needs, it also touches upon the broader ethical imperative to safeguard humanity from AI's harmful effects as noted in high-level global warnings. The segment highlights the tension between frontier AI infrastructure development and risks to national energy security, water supplies, and copyright integrity. It assesses whether specialized regulations can mitigate the physical and societal risks associated with the hardware boom required for large-scale AI deployment.
Body
This week OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman declared Australia could be a world leader in AI data centres.While Pope Leo XIV laid out a sweeping vision and a warning to safeguard humanity from AI's most harmful effects.Dozens of data centres are popping up on the fringes of our major cities, and big tech is lobbying the federal government to seize the opportunity and support their construction. But there are concerns that the trillion dollar industry is risking our environment, energy security, drinking water and copyright laws.Can big tech do this differently with the right regulations?Guests: Professor Toby Walsh, chief scientist University of New South Wales AI Institute, and Belinda Dennett, CEO of Data Centres Australia.CreditsNicole Curby, ProducerImage DetailsProfessor Toby Walsh is a leading expert in AI and a Scientia Professor at UNSW.(ABC News: Berge Breiland)Program:More from Saturday ExtraInformation Technology Industry Appears In Trump considers tenative US-Iran dealDuration: 1 hour 15 minutes 53 seconds1h 15m6itemsIn this episode1 of 6Is it 'deal or no deal' for Iran and the US?Duration: 12 minutes 53 seconds12m 2 of 6Amid heavy losses, Russia looks to next stage of Ukraine warDuration: 15 minutes 15 seconds15m 3 of 6PlayingCan Australia be a leader in sustainable data centres? Duration: 14 minutes 14m 4 of 6Canberra: love it or hate it?Duration: 6 minutes 12 seconds6m 5 of 6How Charlottesville became the frontline of an American history warDuration: 16 minutes 9 seconds16m 6 of 6The Last Thing: Victoria FalconerDuration: 7 minutes 50 seconds7m