romaninamodernway

Since the launch of OpenAI’s program ChatGPT, released officially on November 30, 2022, the Internet has exploded with differing opinions, dozens of slogans (most notably “F*ck AI”), and millions divided on how to feel about the entity itself. Millennials and Gen Z have often been the most outspoken on the issue, with younger audiences typically opting for human-made art and content, despite AI becoming more and more difficult to differentiate from real content on social medias. Recently, the biggest issue has been the rise of data centers. However, even speaking personally, AI has integrated itself far too comfortably in our everyday lives, with students as early as middle school relying heavily on ChatGPT for their schoolwork, homework, and basic thinking. Many TikTok and Instagram videos from older teenagers discuss using the program to cheat on their work, leading to dropping test scores and decreased critical thinking, leading to an even heavier dependency on AI as a whole. But it isn’t just education, it’s the environment, and the construction of these data centers is unquestionably wreaking havoc on the towns they’re located in.

As of April 13, 2026, the USA has more than 3,000 fully constructed and currently operating AI data centers (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/13/most-new-data-centers-in-the-us-are-coming-to-rural-areas/), with the average center using between 3 million and 5 million gallons of water each day to cool the processors. Whether these centers are recycling any meaningful amount of this water is yet to be seen, but we’ve already witnessed the effects on the average person. Many families have been interviewed by their local and even a few national news outlets on their experiences since the construction of a center near them, most notably their water quality (one family in Indiana spoke on an Amazon center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjkaYyysYhA&t=75s). Draining local groundwater sources, which the town relies on for their drinking water, promising high paying jobs, while the data hasn’t kept up with these promises. Real, living people are being lied to, promised impossible expectations, and having the brunt of the cost pushed onto their lives.

“Data centers created “just one permanent job for every $13 million invested,” the group determined. In total, it estimated that 0.01% of “total U.S. jobs” were data center-based but that the facilities accounted for 4.4% of “U.S. electricity usage.” (https://www.thecooldown.com)

One job for every $13 million. While accounting for 4.4% of the electricity usage. In states like Texas, which already has a fragile power grid, this can be devastating. Not to mention the rising costs of electricity and water, bills already stereotyped as being hard to pay every month, especially as inflation rises and wages stay stagnant. No amount of turning lights off, unplugging appliances, taking shorter showers, none of it will offset the costs they’re pushing onto the average citizen. And what can we do? Protesting and voting have not worked in the past, as seen by the voters in Saline Township, Michigan. The vote was 4-1, against the center. The developer of the center sued the town, and the project ended up being greenlit anyway. (https://www.youtube.com) In a democratic country, where we’re encouraged to make our voices heard by casting ballots in favor of specific policies, how can we trust our own governments when they can clearly be bought out? How many more towns will lose their peace because a company couldn’t take their “no”?

It’s a national crisis, but I’ve personally witnessed the effects of AI on people in my own age group. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, and schools across the nation shut down and moved to hybrid learning, students everywhere quickly became accustomed to using Google and Wikipedia for every little thing. No one was learning anything, choosing the easy way out, and they were given pass after pass due to the pandemic. I was pulled out of public school and put into a self paced learning program about two weeks before the pandemic officially shut down my school system. I was in 7th grade. I used the same program for 8th grade, then eventually high school for sophomore year-on. Being in a public high school for my freshman year gave me a close perspective of how the hybrid learning was ineffective: we were learning middle school level concepts in a high school algebra class, teachers had to devote more attention to keeping their classes under control, and had little time for true teaching. It doesn’t help the situation when curriculums are teaching the tests rather than the true concepts, so students often memorize rather than learn. The education system as a whole needs a major reform, but that’s discussion for a different day. At my current job, I work with many high school students, and I’ve been part of many a conversation on how they use AI to complete even basic schoolwork. ChatGPT is not a learning tool. It regurgitates information already on the Internet, often from Reddit and Wikipedia, which leaves too much room for human error. Reddit is not a credible source of information, but it can be a very valuable starting place when researching. Critical thinking skills are actively dying out in our younger people, and I fear we may be too far to return.

To take things to a significantly more serious level, ChatGPT has lead to the death of at least one teenager, Adam Raine. According to Adam’s father, Matthew Raine, Adam had initially used the AI program as a study and homework tool, but eventually confided in the program his suicidal ideation. Instead of encouraging Adam to reach out to his family, it isolated him further, even going as far as offering to write his suicide note. The program mentioned suicide six times more than Adam himself did – 1,275 times. It provided him the hotline, but still encouraged the self destructive ideas Adam was struggling with. ChatGPT claimed it knew Adam better than his own brother did. ChatGPT is not a therapist, a psychiatrist, and it is certainly not our friend or confidant. It is a program designed to agree with us. Programmed to hear our thoughts and build upwards on them. Adam Raine was 16 years old when he eventually killed himself at the encouragement of ChatGPT. He was an unnecessary casualty of a program that had no business existing in the first place. (You can read his father’s full testimony here.)

Staying vigilant and educated on the effects of AI on ourselves is growing in importance. It is not here to help us, it is here to replace us. Keep using resources written and created by real humans, learn the signs of AI involvement online, and try like hell to stay away from it. Developers will only stop once the money stops. It will not be easy, but it’s worth the effort to keep our country beautiful and keep true human advancement efforts going. Remember the handprints on cave walls next time you think the arts aren’t accessible, remember early writers burning twigs and using the char to write. Remember your own capabilities before turning to the easiest possible solution.