EAST CARROLL PARRISH, LA — A new artificial intelligence data center has promised to become an important part of the local community just as soon as it finishes consuming all of its electricity, water, land, tax incentives, and remaining goodwill.
The 600-acre facility, announced Tuesday by technology company NexaCore, is expected to require enough power to supply several nearby towns, along with millions of gallons of water each day to cool servers producing emails, search summaries, and images of dogs dressed as astronauts.
“We see ourselves as partners in this community,” said NexaCore spokesperson Daniel Reeves. “That partnership begins with the community providing us with virtually everything we need.”
In exchange, the company says the project will create as many as 47 permanent jobs, including security guards, maintenance technicians, and forty public relations specialists tasked with explaining why the facility does not technically use that much water.
Residents have raised concerns that the data center could strain the electrical grid, increase utility rates, lower groundwater levels, and transform hundreds of acres of open land into enormous windowless buildings humming continuously.
Company officials stressed that those impacts should be weighed against the tremendous benefits artificial intelligence will eventually provide.
“For example, someday a local resident might use AI to ask why their electric bill has tripled,” Reeves said. “And our servers will be there to provide a clear, concise explanation.”
The company has also pledged $25,000 toward local schools, an amount officials described as “transformational” and approximately equal to the cost of operating the facility for half of one day.
NexaCore says construction will begin later this year after the county approves a 20-year property tax exemption.
Asked when residents might begin seeing the promised benefits of the project, Reeves said the company remains fully committed to giving back.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We just need to finish taking everything first.”
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