Even sooner. When "the public" comes along to buy its 50%, the initial investors can bail and not risk an immediate valuation collapse.

Now, if the proposal involved nationalization, I'd like to be a fly on the wall of the meeting with the VCs currently holding shares.

In other words, "Back off, man! I'm a scientist."

They're just fine. Would nuzzle.

This "old boomer" follows Warren Buffett's advice: If you don't understand the business or the market, don't invest in it.

The part of AI that I do understand is the data center construction, utility equipment, air conditioning, etc. Once that stuff has been paid for and installed, I wouldn't touch the operation part of the equation with a 3.05 meter pole.

Not really. Think about how all those extra appendages might be used.

Compliance teams are just the government's full employment promise to liberal arts majors. You can either find them jobs in the administration. Or you could create a bunch of regulations, with reporting requirements. And companies will have to hire the staff to generate the requisite reports. The former salaries come out of the federal or state budgets. The latter cost the government bupkis.

True. And the grid is rapidly turning into a low trust environment. While it's true that some of the larger data center operators may be willing to put their money into power resources, many are not. Hoping that they can play the utilities against existing customers and get resources built for free*. So, having these existing customers take their revenue to go off and build their own pounds a stake in the heart of their scam: "We'll be here to buy your power. Trust me, bro."

*Utilities are basically in the business of trading long term capital financing for potential future, uncertain, short term revenue income. See WPPSS for what happens when predictions of furure revenue streams goes wrong.

... a taco truck at the center of our galaxy?

... someone yelled "Bingo!"

I think the PP understands well enough. Why can't data centers use a closed water loop to move heat and then a water to air radiator like a car does. Sure, it would be huge. But evaporative cooling has been designed around a water supply being free or really cheap. It isn't.

So let's all piss in Google's data center intake.

It's like the tires on my truck. Not terribly worn, but well over their expiration date. Nobody will touch them, even to check air pressure, because of the liability (and federal law). One could blow out on a weak spot.

I don't even want to know what a blowout at 17,200 mph will be like.

Muah hahaha!

That's why regulators have to be ever vigilant. Anything (within reason) that companies do which is "inward looking" is OK. The moment they address competitors in any way, that needs to be banned.

Example: A certain evil software vendor offers customers per-seat volume discounts for their product. OK. When the threshold for those discounts is coincidentally set to exactly the number of employees in a customer's facility, not OK.

I don't need self driving. The terrain here is such that autonomous systems smart enough to self stabilize would be outlandishly e pensive. Jus give me a Ferrari.