In the Austrian town of Kronstorf, a planned Google data centre promises investment, jobs and a place on the digital map -- but residents are not convinced. Google has not disclosed the cost of the project, describing it only as a "significant investment".

In the Austrian town of Kronstorf, a planned Google data centre promises investment, jobs and a place on the digital map -- but residents are not convinced. They have staged protests against the 50-hectare (123 acre) complex, in a case that has become symbolic of global debate about the environmental and societal costsof the AI boom. "I believe we need a rethink when it comes to this endless growth and expansion," protest organiser Christina Gruber told AFP as around 400 people gathered outside the headquarters of the regional government in Linz.

Gruber, a 38-year-old freelance artist and aquatic ecologist who lives in Amstetten, close to Kronstorf in Upper Austria province, is concerned about the effects of AI on climate change and the amount of water used to cool data centres. She also criticised a "lack of transparency" around the project, complaining that residents were not asked whether they "want to sacrifice our water resources on these huge data centres". Kronstorf has about 3,500 people. While Europe lags far behind the United States in data centre capacity, there are already hundreds of data centres across the continent, with many more planned as it looks to strengthen its AI and cloud infrastructure. But protests have grown as the AI boom accelerates, including in Spain where residents of the Aragon region have launched legal action against a massive data centre buildout by Amazon.

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