An eye-opening account of how the data-center boom is pushing our planet past its breaking point

Underlying our seamless access to AI, cryptocurrency, and unlimited cloud storage is a hulking, costly physical infrastructure. Massive data centers full of energy-hungry chips and processors power everything we do online. Scrambling to meet dubious market demand, the tech giants have made our planet a bargaining chip in the next great race for a market monopoly.

In Hyperscale, journalist Paris Marx uncovers the excesses of hyperscale data processing. He exposes the deceptive, exploitative ways tech companies are syphoning energy and resources from vulnerable communities in their pursuit of digital power, abandoning the pretense of social responsibility.

Amid energy blackouts and tech-induced battles over drinking water, Marx makes a powerful case for technology that promotes the social good over the bottom lines of tech billionaires. He joins the incredible efforts of people and social movements pushing back against the profit-driven interests of big tech, illuminating a path toward the sustainable future we all deserve.

The AI boom and its demands for digital infrastructure have accelerated our many modern catastrophes. With razor-sharp reporting and incisive analysis, Marx shows us the greatest threat is not the specter of AI overlords, but a global environmental disaster already in the making.

About the Author

Paris Marx is a journalist, host of the acclaimed podcast Tech Won’t Save Us, and author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation. He speaks around the world about the politics of technology and writes the Disconnect newsletter. Paris lives in Newfoundland, Canada.