The artificial intelligence boom transforming parts of the country and emerging in the state is bringing to Pittsburgh expectations of new jobs, fears of employment losses and concern about how communities can exercise control.
Western Pennsylvania has around a dozen data centers going back more than a decade. Today, though, the AI wave is leading to investments in new data centers statewide, often repurposing previous industrial sites.
In places like Loudon County, Virginia, where the data center boom is further along, development has brought debates on high-powered lines in populated areas, water consumption and power needs…