Some local artificial intelligence experts say they support an executive order signed by Gov. Maura Healey last week that will subject proposed data center projects to local approval before developers can move onto state permitting.
Kate Saenko, a professor of computer science at Boston University, said she believes the order is “sensible.”
“From what I understand, it’s saying that there should be agreement from the local community before building a new data center in Massachusetts, which makes sense,” she said. “There should be a thoughtful process about how that data center could impact the environment and the local economy.”
The order requires pending data centers to reach community benefit agreements with their host communities that align with state standards before the state permitting process can begin. State agencies are also prohibited from entering into non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, with data centers to “ensure a transparent and fair approval process,” Healey’s office said.
The order comes two years after Healey launched the Massachusetts AI Hub, an effort to make the state a national leader in AI innovation. Saenko said it’s too soon to say whether Healey’s executive order will conflict with her plan to develop the AI Hub.
“Certainly, investing in AI infrastructure can also involve investing in data centers because AI infrastructure … a lot of it is in data centers,” she said. “I think having a transparent process that involves local government maybe will help create data centers in a way that benefits both the community and the development of AI infrastructure in the state.”
A spokesperson for Healey’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question from GBH News about how the new requirement to build data centers in the state will affect the goal of becoming an AI hub.
John Byers, executive director of Boston University’s AI Accelerator for Academic and Administrative Excellence, said in an email that the ban on the state using NDAs will help promote “healthy transparency between prospective operators and government agencies by disallowing NDAs.”
Also, he added that “the order’s attempt to directly mitigate the costs that additional data centers would impose on Massachusetts consumers also strikes me as a sound and equitable step.”
In order to receive tax incentives, data centers must directly procure or develop their own energy supply, rather than shifting costs onto taxpayers or adding strain to the electric grid. Facilities would also need to be built in areas with adequate water and wastewater while limiting their air emissions.
Healey’s executive order comes as AI companies are expanding their presence here. Last week, AI developer Anthropic, the company behind Claude.ai, told the Boston Globe it plans to open a 24,000 square foot office in Kendall Square.
AI development itself has come under new scrutiny in recent days after the leaders of major AI platforms came out this weekend to urge a slowdown in the advancement of so-called frontier AI models so that “risk prevention has time to keep up,” as Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, wrote in a blog post.
Healey herself said on Monday that she wants to see “federal action to put guardrails on AI development before it’s too late,” according to the State House News.
Healey’s order also comes as more cities and towns are aiming to prevent data centers from opening or expanding there. For months, a 352,000 square-foot data facility owned and operated by the Markley Group has been the target of protests and lawsuits from residents in Lowell.
Last week, Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo defended on social media a ban he proposed over the summer on data center construction in the city.
The ban, which was proposed as a zoning ordinance to the Salem City Council, cites the city’s size, density and economic viability and a desire to stay as affordable as possible.
“The impacts of these types of facilities are well documented and clear,” Pangallo said in a statement posted on social media. “They are not impacts we should voluntarily invite into our community.”
Saenko said that while data centers draw on energy resources, she hopes developers use green energy — which comes exclusively from natural, renewable sources with a minimal overall environmental impact — to clean energy, which produces no greenhouse gasses.
“Activities that align both with responsible energy policy and with making Massachusetts an AI hub — such as the expansion of the MGHPCC facility and its explicit use of green energy — demonstrate that AI innovation can, and should, be coupled with responsible use by firms and individuals,” said Byers, who is also a professor of computer science at Boston University.
