Locals protest against Google's AI data center in Andhra Pradesh

Local residents in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, have intensified protests against an artificial intelligence (AI) data center that Google plans to build there.

The roughly $15 billion project will be Google's largest data center outside the United States. India considers it a key part of its broader plan to expand its technology sector.

Locals have raised concerns that the project will increase pressure on water and electricity, harm the environment, and generate relatively few jobs. Forest and farmland are already being cleared for construction.

Farmer Chandala Sadamma said the area that once had mango and cashew trees now shows only red soil. She complained that although she received more than $82,000 in compensation for two acres of land, the company took the land without showing any respect.