AI is not a software race. It’s an infrastructure race

Описание: Artificial Intelligence looks like software.
In reality, it runs on power stations, water systems and giant data centres.

On this episode of Transform Gov, Maeve Kneafsey speaks with Alice Charles, Director at Arup and former World Economic Forum infrastructure lead, about the global infrastructure race now unfolding behind the AI revolution.

Alice explains:

• Why the AI boom could require 100% more energy by 2030
• Why data centres are becoming strategic national infrastructure
• Why Ireland’s climate gives it an advantage in the global tech economy
• Why many smart city initiatives failed — and what governments learned
• Why countries must move from planning infrastructure to actually delivering it

This conversation reveals something rarely discussed:

The future of AI may depend less on algorithms — and more on power grids, water systems and infrastructure strategy.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction – Why infrastructure matters
01:10 Alice Charles: From Northern Ireland to global infrastructure leadership
04:00 Lessons from the financial crisis and NAMA projects
08:00 Inside the World Economic Forum’s cities programme
12:30 How infrastructure thinking has changed
15:00 Why smart city projects failed
18:00 The global AI race begins
21:00 Why AI requires huge amounts of energy and water
24:00 Why China may have an advantage
27:00 Why Ireland is attractive for data centres
30:00 The infrastructure challenge facing Ireland
34:00 Why delivery matters more than planning
37:00 Fixing infrastructure with data and technology