26 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN April/May 2026 The Nebraska Corn Board is proud to celebrate the real stories of commitment, community and deep-rooted legacy that make us proud to be Nebraska corn farmers. To see farmers’ stories, scan the QR code or visit IAmNebraskaCorn.com. I DIDN’T CHOOSE THIS LIFE. It chose me. Nate Location is everything for these data centers. Access to water and power are absolutely necessary but so too is access to labor and the urban infrastructure to support them. “By trying to put these data centers where there aren’t adequate water resources or infrastructure to support them, it is not setting them up for success. There are other parts of the country that have ample water resources; put them there and avoid inevitable failure,” Winkler says. As of right now, there are no legally binding energy standards that apply to private sector data centers. In a world that has become increasingly aware of greenhouse gas emissions for everything from vehicles to cattle, these data centers are sparking controversy. A 2024 study from Cornell University titled “Environmental Burden of United States Data Centers in the Artificial Intelligence Era” reported that data centers generated more than 105 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2023. “So are we actually reducing impacts in any way, or are we just making life a little more convenient for some people?” Budd asks. “I don’t know. It has been an amazing tool for a lot of things, and I think we underutilize it for other things. The big question that I don’t think we asked at the beginning of AI and supercomputing is whether or not the trade-offs were really going to be worth it.” Ethics Technology tends to be a reflection of the people who built it and those using it, which leaves consumers trusting that tech companies are setting ethical boundaries for how AI is used and how they are using the data that AI is learning from. In past articles, we discussed the need for caution when sharing personal information with chatbots unless you are paying for a private subscription. With technology constantly evolving, it leaves us to question: What is AI capable of? THE OTHER AI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 “The big question that I don’t think we asked at the beginning of AI and supercomputing is whether or not the trade-offs were really going to be worth it.” – Joe Budd CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
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