urbanSTL

If you're interested in seeing how AI will change regional economies, you should be watching San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Nashville this year. AI is redefining corporate America and it'll be noticeable first in those regions. Jobs in accounting/finance, legal, supply chain, operations, business development, and customer service will be the first to go. Entry level opportunities and those with the highest salaries will be first targets. Simple manufacturing will not be far behind. Fulfillment and distribution centers will be near full automation by 2030.

This is one of those times where St. Louis is going to need to think three steps ahead to grow. We're past the point of attracting HQs or building a tech workforce. None of that will have value in the near future. 

What will drive regional economies when workers aren't attached to an employer? Quality of life.  

Trololzilla wrote:How does one have a regional economy or quality of life if everyone is unemployed? We all know the government in this country would never be of help there.

Reality is that we are "cooked" as a nation as the kids would say and none of this really matters once the AI bubble pops or the US defaults on its debt. Or both.

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Trololzilla wrote:How does one have a regional economy or quality of life if everyone is unemployed? We all know the government in this country would never be of help there.

Great question. Regions that answer the question will win the next few decades.

Jamie Dimon is advocating for government regulations of his business and presidential candidates are talking about universal income. These people talking about these things are my best indicator that AI is going to deliver what they say it will.

addxb2 wrote:

Trololzilla wrote:How does one have a regional economy or quality of life if everyone is unemployed? We all know the government in this country would never be of help there.

Great question. Regions that answer the question will win the next few decades.

Jamie Dimon is advocating for government regulations of his business and presidential candidates are talking about universal income. These people talking about these things are my best indicator that AI is going to deliver what they say it will.

Consider that government and its associated costs should also see advantages of AI. For example, the future of winter weather management is a combination of drones, automated vehicles of varying size, and AI decision making.

Trololzilla wrote:

addxb2 wrote: ↑

5:01 PM - Jan 31

 These people talking about these things are my best indicator that AI is going to deliver what they say it will.

I highly doubt that.

Also, can we please stop calling it AI? There is nothing intelligent about it - LLM's are essentially just complex Excel macros. Everything they spit out is still ultimately created by human hands.

No, AI is gonna make everything better and we need to cover our city in them! Come on, let your mind be taken by the propaganda like others have. And ignore all the educators telling us that kids no longer know how to read or write, that's just a distraction. Eventually the benefit curve will kick in. Just gotta subsidize a few more data centers for AI companies that currently don't make a profit.

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It’s made my capacity for billable hours triple.  I can do 5400 hours of billable work a year in 1800 hours.  Eventually that will slow down as the other side figures out the true AI assisted LOE needed to complete the work.

AI:  The Boogey Man of the 21st Century.

AI datacenter boom triples US gas power builds, filling the air with more CO2
Reduce emissions? Screw that - we have money to lose and memes to generate
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/ai_datacenter_boom_tripled_us_gas_power_builds/

That's the real shame of AI, either it collapses and brings down the US economy with it or it keeps growing and we get mass unemployment AND we undo any progress we have made reducing emissions on our way to five degrees of global temperature rise in the lifetimes of people alive today. 

Stl PR - Long-awaited rules would limit where data centers are built in St. Louis as public pushback grows

https://www.stlpr.org/government-politi ... t-st-louis

BarryGlick wrote: ↑

7:01 PM - Feb 01

AI datacenter boom triples US gas power builds, filling the air with more CO2
Reduce emissions? Screw that - we have money to lose and memes to generate
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/ai_datacenter_boom_tripled_us_gas_power_builds/

Or all the new gas plant sit empty when Musk and Bezos puts date centers in space with unlimited cooling resources and continuous solar to feed them.   Which I believe will be the time that ATT, Verizon, T Mobile along with cable companies become irrelevant when every smart phone is also a satellite phone and covers all your home/business wifi needs.  No more towers, fiber and cable..   

Makes me think of the scene in Wall-E when the rocket blasts through the satellite clutter.

dredger wrote: ↑

3:28 AM - Feb 07

BarryGlick wrote: ↑

7:01 PM - Feb 01

AI datacenter boom triples US gas power builds, filling the air with more CO2
Reduce emissions? Screw that - we have money to lose and memes to generate
https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/ai_datacenter_boom_tripled_us_gas_power_builds/

Or all the new gas plant sit empty when Musk and Bezos puts date centers in space with unlimited cooling resources and continuous solar to feed them.   Which I believe will be the time that ATT, Verizon, T Mobile along with cable companies become irrelevant when every smart phone is also a satellite phone and covers all your home/business wifi needs.  No more towers, fiber and cable..   

Cooling is more difficult in space, not less. Without air to move heat away you'd have real issues. Especially if you are counting on sunlight to power your solar panels.

quincunx wrote: ↑

4:14 PM - Feb 06

Stl PR - Long-awaited rules would limit where data centers are built in St. Louis as public pushback grows

https://www.stlpr.org/government-politi ... t-st-louis

Thanks for posting.  Made mistake and got confused on articles.   So edited my comments to also include another article on the matter

St. Louis Magazine posted on data centers as well

https://www.stlmag.com/news/st-louis-ci ... ork-draft/

 I thought the St Louis Magazine article was good old reporting of where city was currently at and what is being discussed/drafting as far as regulations & zoning.  

Stl PR - St. Charles officials table vote on banning large-scale data center development until April


https://www.stlpr.org/news-briefs/2026- ... ters-april

quincunx wrote: ↑

3:43 PM - Feb 10

Stl PR - St. Charles officials table vote on banning large-scale data center development until April


https://www.stlpr.org/news-briefs/2026- ... ters-april

I am not surprised. The unknown user closed on the purchase of the land in December so I am sure they are making one last behind the scenes push. 

^ I can't help to think that St louis city has a rare economic/chance to increase its tax revenues here as everyone else runs around with the sky is falling mentality.  City simply is land rich, has a lot of underutilized industrial space and the infrastructure.    

Increased tax revenue... but also increased energy bills for everybody.