Thousands turn out in Edinburgh to protest against AI data centres

Thousands of people have joined a protest in Edinburgh against the building of large-scale AI data centres.

Demonstrators with placards - and some dressed in costume - assembled at the top of the Royal Mile before marching towards the Scottish Parliament.

The event comes at a time of widespread debate about the environmental impact of data centres and is part of a wave of protests across Europe.

The Scottish government will soon publish new planning guidance on data centres and said it was developing a strategy to maximise the "public benefit".

Innovation Minister Alyn Smith recently said data centres were "the whisky bonds of the AI sector".

However protesters made it clear they disagree - carrying slogans such as "AI data centres threaten humanity" and "AI data centres: costing the Earth".

Some attended to voice their opposition to plans for data centres in particular communities - including Cockenzie, East Lothian, and Larbert, Falkirk.

Kim Cairns, a campaigner for 'Say No To Chapelcross AI Data Centre', told BBC Scotland News her community was worried about noise, road closures and access problems during the construction phase.

She was also concerned about the noise the centre would generate when it was operational.

Kim said: "It's not going to enrich anybody's lives. For Chapelcross it's the sheer size of it, the amount of electricity it's going to need.

"At the moment it's green fields with sheep and cows in it. It's going to be a monstrosity on the environment.

"The air pollution, the light pollution - it's just not needed."

AI is seen by some as the most transformative technology ever made but others have warned there is chance that if the frightening pace of development continues it "could kill all humans" within the next decade.

Meanwhile, Scotland's data centre debate centres around the scale and impact of the sites themselves.

At the moment, the biggest data centre in Scotland is thought to be DataVita's site in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, which has a capacity for 12MW.

But if one planned for Chapelcross, Dumfries and Galloway, goes ahead it will have a capacity of 1,000MW - making it one of the largest data centres in the world.

The Scottish Greens and campaign groups have called for a moratorium on large data centres, arguing they could undermine climate targets and place additional pressure on renewable energy supplies.

The innovation minister previously told BBC Scotland some of the discourse around the subject was "wild".

Smith said: "You'd think there wasn't a planning system at all.

"Comparing a really bad data centre in the middle of the Utah desert doesn't track through to what we're going to have in Scotland."

Friends of the Earth campaigner Kim Pratt believes the people of Scotland should have the final say on the building of data centres.

She said: "The way that these data centres are being proposed is going to make a lot of profit for big tech companies but they're going to have huge impacts for people in Scotland.

"These developments are so massive they're going to have national-level impacts -they're energy hungry developments.

"There would be a massive increase in our energy bills but also in terms of climate impact as well.

"The Scottish government is only taking a few months to consider these impacts - and these developments are so new, we don't know what all the impacts will be."

Scotcast: AI and data centres: what now?

15 September

The Scottish government confirmed it would publish new planning guidance on data centres before the end of the year and was "developing a strategic approach to maximising the public benefit from data centres located in Scotland".

A spokesperson added: "Planning authorities are also now required to notify ministers of new data centre applications, with a new planning direction also mandating an Environmental Impact Assessment to be submitted during planning for all new data centres with a power capacity exceeding 50 megawatts."