Modi wants India to power the AI age. Residents are pushing back

The view from Indian engineer Tushar Shetty's Mumbai apartment captures a tension playing out around the world as the artificial intelligence boom fuels an unprecedented data-centre building spree.



What was once a stretch of lush greenery outside his 21st-floor window is now a scar of red earth where trees were felled to make way for an Amazon facility that forms part of the tech giant's planned $21 billion investment in AI infrastructure in India by 2030.



"I would not have bought the house if I had known," said the 46-year-old, lamenting a purchase made just five months ago.



From the suburbs of Virginia to the outskirts of Amsterdam and Dublin, residents have increasingly rebelled against the spread of AI data centres, complaining of noise, surging electricity consumption, water stress and industrialisation of residential neighbourhoods.