AI's Impact on the Environment, Explained

Data centers house computer servers for storing and managing data. The rise in artificial intelligence has led to an increase in the construction of massive data center buildings to support the technology's training and intense data requirements. 

The recent boom in their development has been unpopular with many people in the United States, particularly when those structures are being built in their local area.

While data centers did exist prior to the development of AI as it's known today, little attention was paid to them before. With the American public now more widely scrutinizing the structures, Snopes has been researching numerous claims about them, particularly their construction and potential impact on local communities and the environment.

Here are 12 stories we've looked into about data centers over the last two years.