The San Luis Valley Beat uses artificial intelligence. Some readers don't like that. Rather than avoiding the subject, I think it's worth explaining how I use AI, why I use it, and why I also believe the concerns surrounding this rapidly growing technology deserve our attention.

Artificial intelligence has become one of those subjects that can quickly divide people.

Some see it as an amazing new technology with the potential to change how we work and live. Others worry about jobs, creativity, privacy, misinformation and the environment. Increasingly, concerns are also being raised about the electricity — and, in some cases, water — required by the data centers that make today's AI possible.

I've also received criticism for using AI in The San Luis Valley Beat.

So rather than avoiding the subject, let's talk about it.

Yes, The Beat Uses AI

Yes, I use artificial intelligence in producing The San Luis Valley Beat.

I'm 74 years old and retired, and I produce a weekly newsletter that attempts to cover communities across six counties of the San Luis Valley.

I don't have a newsroom full of reporters, photographers, graphic designers and researchers.

It's basically me.

AI gives me access to tools that would have been difficult — or simply impossible — for a one-person publication like The Beat to have just a few years ago.

I use AI to help organize information, research subjects that I then verify, brainstorm story ideas, format material and occasionally create illustrations when an appropriate photograph isn't available.

But there is an important distinction.

AI is a tool. It isn't the editor of The San Luis Valley Beat.

It doesn't decide what gets published. It doesn't replace conversations with people throughout the Valley. It doesn't replace checking information against reliable sources. It doesn't drive around the Valley taking photographs.

And it doesn't replace the judgment that comes from actually living here.

I've called the San Luis Valley home for more than three decades. AI hasn't.

When an AI-generated image is used because an appropriate photograph isn't available, I believe readers should know that. That's why The Beat identifies those images as artist's renderings rather than presenting them as photographs of something that actually happened.

The Criticism Isn't Entirely Wrong

Here's something else I think is important to acknowledge:

People who raise concerns about AI aren't necessarily wrong.

AI has an environmental footprint.

Behind something that seems as simple as asking an AI system a question are data centers filled with computers operating around the clock.

Those computers require electricity — and as AI use grows, so does the demand.

According to the International Energy Agency, data centers worldwide consumed about 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2025. The agency projects that could roughly double to about 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, representing around 3% of worldwide electricity demand.

AI-focused data centers are growing even faster. Their electricity consumption increased by about 50% in 2025, and the IEA projects their electricity use could triple between 2025 and 2030.

There's another side to those numbers, however. Computers and AI systems are also becoming much more energy-efficient. The amount of electricity needed for an individual AI task has been falling rapidly.

The problem is that more people are using AI, and newer applications — including video generation and more complex reasoning tasks — can require considerably more computing power.

In other words, we're getting better at making AI efficient while simultaneously asking it to do much more.

Water is another legitimate concern.

Some data centers use water-based cooling systems to remove the tremendous amount of heat generated by their computers. Others use different cooling technologies, including air cooling.

That distinction is important because not every data center uses the same amount of water or electricity.

And here in the San Luis Valley, where water and other natural resources are never abstract issues, those differences matter.

This Isn't Just a National Issue

The data center discussion has already reached the San Luis Valley.

In May, Saguache County adopted a six-month emergency moratorium on data center projects while officials considered what land-use regulations should apply. That followed an April meeting where San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative CEO Eric Eriksen said the cooperative had received three inquiries concerning rural data center projects in the Valley.

South Fork followed in June, approving a one-year moratorium on new data center development while the town researches and develops appropriate regulations.

Rio Grande County has also adopted temporary restrictions on new data center applications and prohibited hyperscale data centers in unincorporated portions of the county.

Alamosa has likewise been considering how large-load data centers should be regulated.

But not every local government has taken exactly the same approach.

On Sept. 9, Alamosa County commissioners approved a special-use permit for Strata Inc. to develop a small container-based data processing and storage facility about 1.75 miles southeast of Hooper.

The details of that project illustrate why it's important not to lump every data center together.

The project is limited to 21 containers, only 12 of which will contain computing equipment. Each computing container will use approximately 250 kilowatts of electricity, with the entire project capped at approximately 3 megawatts at full build-out.

And unlike the water-cooled data centers that have generated concern elsewhere, Alamosa County says the Hooper-area facility will be air-cooled and will use no water for cooling.

The county also says the project was intentionally designed to use existing San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative infrastructure and will require no new transmission lines or substations.

That's considerably different from the enormous hyperscale data centers often discussed in national news.

And that distinction matters.

Could There Be Benefits?

There is another side to the local discussion.

New technology businesses could bring investment to rural communities, while additional electricity sales could potentially help spread some of the cost of maintaining the existing electrical system.

In explaining the Hooper-area project, Alamosa County reported that SLVREC believes a steady new electrical load can generate revenue that helps support the rural electric system it already maintains, potentially helping offset costs for existing members.

That's a potential benefit worth considering.

But potential benefits shouldn't prevent communities from asking questions.

How much electricity will a proposed facility consume?

Where will its water come from?

Will additional electrical infrastructure be required — and who pays for it?

What does the community receive in return?

How will neighboring properties be affected?

And what happens if the business eventually leaves?

Those seem like reasonable questions to ask before development takes place rather than afterward.

AI Is More Than Data Centers

It's also important not to allow the data center debate to become the entire conversation about artificial intelligence.

AI is already finding its way into small businesses, agriculture, education, medicine, research, transportation and everyday life.

A small business owner can use AI to help develop marketing ideas without having an advertising department.

It can help someone understand a complicated document, organize information, analyze data or learn something completely new.

Farmers and ranchers will increasingly encounter AI in agricultural equipment, weather analysis, irrigation management and other technologies.

And for a small operation like The San Luis Valley Beat, it can provide access to capabilities that once would have required several people.

But AI can also be spectacularly wrong.

It can confidently present incorrect information as fact. It can create convincing fake photographs, voices and videos. It raises difficult questions about copyright, privacy and employment.

That's why I don't believe responsible use means blindly trusting it.

Quite the opposite.

Using AI responsibly requires knowing that it can be wrong.

At 74, I'm Still Learning

There's another reason I've chosen to embrace this technology.

I'm 74 years old.

During my lifetime I've watched technology change in ways that would have been difficult to imagine when I was young.

I've watched television change from a handful of channels to hundreds. I've seen personal computers go from something unusual to something almost everyone carries around in their pocket. I've watched the internet completely transform communication, shopping, entertainment and business.

Some technologies disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived.

Others became so much a part of everyday life that we barely notice them anymore.

I believe artificial intelligence is likely to fall into that second category.

And I've never believed getting older means you have to stop learning.

In fact, one of the things I enjoy about producing The Beat is that I'm constantly learning something new — about the Valley, about its people and businesses, and sometimes about technology itself.

AI is simply another tool I've learned to use.

You Don't Have to Like It

I'm not writing this to convince everyone that artificial intelligence is wonderful.

It isn't.

There are problems associated with AI that society will have to address. Electricity consumption, water use, misinformation, privacy, copyright and the effect on employment are all legitimate concerns.

There should be rules.

There should be transparency.

And communities should have a voice when large technology projects could affect their resources.

But I also don't believe refusing to use AI will make it disappear.

The technology is advancing whether we embrace it or oppose it.

I'd rather learn how to use it responsibly, understand its shortcomings, ask difficult questions about its impacts and take advantage of the things it genuinely does well.

That's the approach I've taken with The San Luis Valley Beat.

Readers certainly don't have to agree with me.

But I think we can have an honest conversation about AI without having to choose between believing it's going to solve every problem in the world or believing it's going to destroy it.

The truth is probably somewhere in between.

And here in the San Luis Valley, perhaps the most important question isn't whether we're for AI or against AI.

That's a conversation worth having.

Because artificial intelligence isn't something waiting for us somewhere in the future.

It's already here.