Our first story of real data center resistance begins with Marina Otero Verzier, a Spanish architect, researcher, and Harvard GSD lecturer. In her search for more eco-social data centers in Chile and Spain, Marina pushed the voice of local communities up to the level of government at a moment when hyperscale companies wanted to be louder, and helped develop Chile's first National Data Center Plan with those communities' concerns in mind.

But information asymmetry, timing, and bureaucratic pressures on small municipalities turn out to be among the most decisive factors shaping the tactics of protest communities – regionally and globally. Local communities in Cerrillos and Quilicura (Chile) faced exactly these obstacles as they countered hyperscale developments threatening their water supply and a fragile wetland ecosystem.

A different story unfolds in Aragón, Spain, where Marina helped form a strategic-litigation group to file the first lawsuit in Spain against hyperscale infrastructure. Rather than going after a data center itself, Marina (together with several civil society organizations, neighborhood movements, and others) challenged the enabling legal mechanism: the strategic-project (PIGA) status that let Amazon fast-track its developments.

And what would an alternative vision for data centers look like? In Marina’s words, perhaps as an infrastructure that is "not only public, but in the hands of the people." And what would change if we treated it not as a source of always-on abundance, but as something attuned to the rhythms of our bodies and our planet? Is a data center really so different from a bank, a library, or a school?

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Where the Cloud Touches the Ground is a special podcast series under the podcast Paradigms, produced by Leitmotiv – an independent think-and-do tank working toward an alternative digital economy.

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An AI-driven data center boom has led to a global frenzy to find land, power, water, and servers for these digital infrastructures. As the material consequences of this data center race become real, local communities are starting to push back as protests and litigation aimed at local data center projects errupt all over the world. In this podcast series, we unpack commonalities in local data center activism and the problems it confronts: from environmental damage to local nuisance and from the impact on local democracy to effects on local economies. At the same time, we aim to uncover what lessons emerge from these local battles for policymakers and politicians: is there a way to better regulate and manage this sector? In this podcast series, we will speak to crucial voices in this debate: local community activists, researchers, journalists and local policymakers. Our goal is to ensure these local battles in the age of hyperscale get the attention they deserve, to amplify the concern of local communities and see if we can imagine alternative digital futures that keep us within planetary boundaries, in which corporate power is democratically controlled and where all human rights are respected.

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If compute is to AI what energy is to an aluminum plant, what happens when we start treating it like a utility? As 2025 draws to a close, tech firms have already poured over $400 billion into AI infrastructure globally – and AI continues to reshape our world with each passing second.

While AI tools and products become woven into government services, businesses, and our daily routines, we stop to ask: shouldn't the providers of compute infrastructure be considered public utilities? And if so, what opportunities arise?

In this episode, we revisit our conversation from May, which remains more relevant than ever, and dive into the current debate on AI compute and the risks of rapid scaling without proper regulation. Listen along as we explore potential solutions against keeping production capacity in private hands – from market liberalization (think energy markets) to private investment over state subsidies, state loans, and hybrid models.

How can we prioritize fairness in the AI compute market and what is lost when the potential profits of the world's richest compute companies far outweigh the reputational risk of rolling back their sustainability plans?

Link to Max's LinkedIn post: https://ltmv.io/max-post

Sources: CNN Business

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Paradigms is a podcast produced by Leitmotiv – an independent think tank focused on operationalizing values in our digital future.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SIqDnLt5wAl6jZRboqgSF?si=2e29d270de83472d
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-ai-compute-a-public-utility/id1842815462?i=1000743083552
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ADPMxjw-4xA

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How can we create responsible regulation when the AI race has just begun and there's still little evidence of its benefits for the European market and society? As the European Commission seeks public input on its upcoming Cloud & AI Development Act and its potential impacts, it aims to build more European data centers to match the economic power of the US and China in AI & cloud computing. But is it feasible and what do we do about the missing data?

In this episode, Zuzana and Max for the first time welcome Leitmotiv's co-founder Christiaan van Veen who is a human rights lawyer with extensive experience at the UN, EU, and national level (NL). Together, Max and Christiaan share details about the 40-page analysis and policy recommendations they submitted to the Commission's call for evidence on the Act's possible impact, in collaboration with cultural anthropologist Corinne Cath.

Through their rigorous analysis, solid conceptual framework, and six regulatory interventions, the authors point out how EU policy remains fixated on expanding cloud as a centralized “shared” or “infinity” factory – creating dependence on a few owners, weak competition, questionable social benefits, and guaranteed environmental costs.

And their ultimate proposal for the EU Commission? Fix market failures first, then invest where public value is clear.

(Correction (5:29): Christiaan mentions Article 9, but the correct version is Article 19.)

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Paradigms is a podcast produced by Leitmotiv – an independent think tank focused on operationalizing values in our digital future.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6JlonWocmeNx803GCJNWs8?si=d1b97c75000d4fb7
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-the-eu-cloud-and-ai-development-act/id1842815462?i=1000732605907
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrojS7WBLF8

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As large investments are being poured into artificial intelligence technology, tech companies paint a picture of a near future where AI agents do most work for you – but is that realistic? What even is an AI agent and how does it differ from assistants like ChatGPT?

With companies claiming that these technologies can become autonomous workers able to handle complex tasks independently, it's crucial to understand the difference between real capability versus a marketing narrative. As AI emerges in different forms and creates new dependencies across all industries and spheres, a reality check on the playbook scripts designed by the tech industry is crucial.

Which thoughtful approaches towards automation can we propose that prioritize human and environmental wellbeing? Is it worth imagining AI integrations in workspaces that balance innovation with responsibility?

Paradigms is a podcast produced by Leitmotiv – an independent think tank focused on operationalizing values in our digital future. Join the conversation by following us on LinkedIn, Bluesky or Instagram, stay on the pulse of the latest digital developments and learn everything about how we’re shaping a values-centered digital future that is ours.

Listen more on Paradigms – now also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! ⬇️

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What happens when a tech giant becomes a media monopoly? As Meta faces scrutiny over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, hosts Zuzana Ľudviková and Max Schulze explore Meta's ongoing antitrust trial with the US Federal Trade Commission and examine Meta's identity and inner workings – as a media conglomerate and a large-scale attention factory fueled by users' free labor of watching and scrolling.

Without proper regulations, the digital media marketplace risks becoming an unregulated Wild West where user interests take a backseat to corporate greed, influencing policymaking in both the United States and Europe.

How can we develop effective regulation that does not stifle innovation but ensures that technology truly serves democratic societies?

Tune in as software engineer and policy expert Max Schulze outlines a digital media landscape that prioritizes user rights and equitable practices. Through effective policymaking, there is a way for technology to first and foremost generate positive change – then profit.

Paradigms is a newly launched podcast produced by Leitmotiv – an independent think tank focused on operationalizing values in our digital future.

Spotify: https://ltmv.io/spotify
YouTube: https://ltmv.io/yt

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