Live Updates > Live Update Details
2026-06-04 08:32:26
[Amazon Engineer Attends Seattle Hearing: Supports Regulation of AI Data Centers, Criticizes Layoffs While Building Data Centers] (1) At a Seattle City Council hearing, Amazon Web Services engineer Patrick Schlosser criticized tech giants for investing hundreds of billions of dollars in building AI data centers while laying off tens of thousands of employees (Amazon's capital expenditure this year is $200 billion, and Microsoft's is $190 billion). He supports regulation of large AI data centers. (2) The Seattle City Council voted to approve a one-year suspension of new large AI data center construction in order to develop regulatory rules. This move stemmed from four developers' proposals to build five large facilities (two of which have been withdrawn due to public opposition). Currently, 14 states across the United States are considering similar legislation. (3) Members of Amazon's "Climate Justice Employees" organization called for data centers to use renewable energy, stop using confidentiality agreements or shell companies, and impose new taxes on large-scale layoffs. Engineer Lissell Wigand criticized the tech industry's "build AI at all costs" culture and believes that local governments should work with communities to develop rules.
