As the AI industry struggles to convince us of its importance and necessity, its impact isn’t just being felt on the internet. It’s showing up in the real world as data centers: thirsty, noisy buildings packed with rows of servers powering artificial intelligence. Almost without fail, wherever they appear, they’re quickly despised.
If you want to know why, just look to Billy and Marjorie Finn of Dowagiac, Michigan, who, according to an MLive report, are being driven nuts by the ceaseless, high-pitched hum of a nearby data center.
AI Data Centers Are Spreading Across America, and the Noise Is Becoming a Problem
The Finns live directly across from Hyperscale Data’s 30-megawatt facility, where a high-pitched mechanical hum blares constantly. It sounds like a distant but encroaching NASCAR race that never arrives. As MLive reports, Billy Finn has tracked the noise himself, recording decibel levels rising from about 52 in 2022 to more than 60 today, with occasional spikes much higher. Marjorie says the sound haunts her as she tucks herself into bed at night.
They say that the data center, that new mighty symbol of American industry plopped in the middle of their small town, has stolen from them the simple pleasures of life, like sitting quietly on the porch, hosting family get-togethers, and all in the home that was supposed to be in their family for generations.
Two of their neighbors are suing Hyperscale Data, alleging the facility’s constant noise invades their homes and that the company failed to install adequate sound barriers. While the Finns declined to join the lawsuit, they share many of the same concerns. MLive spoke with an audiologist who said that sustained noise at these levels probably won’t damage their hearing.
Still, it can overall contribute to a more stressful environment and can lead to a broader set of health problems.
Even more worrying, the facility is planning an expansion, from 30 megawatts to many hundreds more, that will only make matters much worse for the Finns and their neighbors.
The Finns’ story isn’t an isolated incident. As the New York Times recently reported, similar lawsuits have popped up in New Jersey and Massachusetts as AI-driven data center construction accelerates nationwide.
More than 3,000 data centers already operate across the United States, with thousands more in the works. Local noise rules and neighborhoods across the country were never designed for industrial facilities that belt out unceasing, maddening noise day and night. Communities across the country are scrambling to keep pace; many can’t afford to, especially as they face the billions of dollars being pumped into the AI arms race.
One that increasingly seems to benefit no one other than those who already have plenty of money to burn.
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