Greater Manchester Green Mayor candidate Geraldine Coggins is calling for “an end to the folly of rushing headlong into AI development without public debate and environmental protections.
Greater Manchester is emerging as a major UK hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure with new and planned centres in Stockport,Urmston , East Manchester and elsewhere, supported by Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s AI and Data Innovation Office .
The Government Digital Sustainability Alliance report warns that AI will increase global water usage from 1.1bn to 6.6bn cubic metres by 2027, equivalent to more than half of the UK’s total water usage.
Geraldine Coggins said:
“The world is on fire. A quarter of a million people have been evacuated from the paths of wildfires in Spain and France, and a major incident was declared in the Cairngorms as flames threatened Aviemore.
“In my own front room in Trafford, I can smell the acrid smoke from wildfires on the moors.
“On the doorstep, I am being told that people worry about AI and the consequences for their jobs, while musicians and creative artists warn of having their work stolen. People fear AI’s impact on the environment and the threat it brings of ‘going rogue’ and starting wars.
“Prime Minister Andy Burnham has brought AI around the Cabinet table with a dedicated Minister to promote its use. They need to focus on how AI is regulated and who benefits from it.
“As the region’s first Green Mayor, I will work to end to the folly of rushing headlong into AI development without public debate and environmental protections.
“I will not allow our water-deprived peat moors or people’s drinking water to be threatened by AI’s rapacious drive for profits. This is what I mean by my campaign pledge to take back Greater Manchester from Big Money.
“I will establish a Mayor’s Commission made up of the public, business and wildlife and nature organisations to determine the future of AI in Greater Manchester. It will examine the evidence and make recommendations on how we protect people and plant from the excesses of AI, including its threatening over use of water.”
