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The AI Power Grab: You're Paying for Their Data Dreams

EDITOR'S NOTES

They keep saying AI will “change everything”—but what they mean is it’ll change everything for them. Not you. Not your family. While Big Tech and their bureaucratic enablers suck power from every corner of the grid to train their glorified surveillance systems, your utility bill climbs higher. And here’s the dirty truth: AI might talk decentralization, but right now, it’s one of the most centralized beasts we’ve ever built. The infrastructure isn’t open—it’s walled-off, corporate-controlled, and backed by government subsidies you’re forced to fund. This is the machine learning version of the Federal Reserve—massive, unaccountable, and absolutely insulated from real-world consequences.

Derek Wolfe Aug 6, 25

AI Is Feeding—and You're the Battery

AI doesn’t just cost money to build. It burns electricity like there’s no tomorrow. Between May 2024 and May 2025, U.S. residential electricity prices jumped 6.5%, on average. In some states, like Maine, it exploded by over 36%. And while the headlines blame “market conditions,” the real driver is the energy-hungry monster beneath it all: data centers.

These facilities are the backbone of today’s AI boom—warehouses packed wall-to-wall with servers crunching every email, image, and biometric detail they can scrape. They’re operational 24/7, consuming megawatts just to keep from melting down.

And they don’t live in the cloud—they live in your town, drawing from your grid. That’s why utilities are scrambling to upgrade transmission lines and infrastructure, racking up billions in costs they’ll happily pass on to—you guessed it—you.

Centralized Tech in a Decentralized Disguise

The lie that AI is somehow decentralized is one of the biggest grifts of the modern era. Sure, open-source models and distributed computing exist in theory—but the overwhelming majority of AI innovation is hoarded by a handful of megacorps: OpenAI, Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft.

They’re building the models.
They’re owning the infrastructure.
And they’re locking it behind APIs, NDAs, and government contracts.

What’s decentralized about that?

Even the compute itself is concentrated in a few data centers, primarily in places like Northern Virginia—aka “data center alley”—where grid operators like PJM are jacking up capacity prices. In one auction alone, AI infrastructure drove over 60% of a $9.3 billion spike in costs. That’s not just market distortion—that’s economic warfare on the average citizen.

You're Paying for a System That Watches You

Let’s connect the dots. You’re funding AI—through your electric bill, through your tax dollars, through your stolen data. But you're not owning it. You're not profiting from it. And you sure as hell aren’t controlling it.

These aren’t tools—they’re surveillance engines. They're built to predict your moves, manipulate your decisions, and sell that behavioral insight to the highest bidder. All the while, you’re footing the infrastructure bill to power them.

Even state governments are sounding the alarm. A Virginia audit warned that the electric demand of data centers could soon outpace what utilities can deliver. Meanwhile, utilities gamble billions on grid expansion—assuming this boom isn’t just another bubble.

If they’re wrong? Doesn’t matter. You still pay.

The Real Bottom Line:

This isn’t just AI. It’s the same old centralized con. A few corporations get rich. The state ensures they stay dominant. The people—us—we get billed, watched, and fed promises of future "benefits" that never come.

So yeah, AI is centralized. And unless we wake up, it's going to centralize everything else—our energy, our information, our choices.

Get out of the system. Diversify your power sources. Learn to go off-grid. Own your data. And if you haven’t yet, read “Seven Steps to Protect Yourself from Bank Failure” by Bill Brocius. The system’s cracking—don’t wait for the collapse.
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