The Take: Why is drought-hit Brazil saying yes to AI data centers?

PodcastPodcast, The Take

Brazil is turning to AI data centers to boost its economy, but critics say they put our ecological future at risk.

When AI data centers come to town, companies promise jobs and opportunities. In one drought-stricken community in Brazil, residents are weighing the choices. How do communities balance the economic boost and environmental cost of hosting water-reliant data centers?

In this episode:

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolome and Haleema Shah, with Remas Alhawari, Manny Panaretos, Mariana Navarrete, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Kylene Kiang. 

The Take production team is Marcos Bartolome, Sonia Bhagat, Sari el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, Phillip Lanos, Chloe K Li, Ashish Malhotra, Haleema Shah, Khaled Soltan, Amy Walters, and Noor Wazwaz. Our editorial interns are Remas Alhawari, Marya Khan, and Kisaa Zehra. Our guest host is Kevin Hirten. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Aya Elmileik is lead of audience engagement.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube