Premier Danielle Smith speaks during an announcement that Meta will invest $13 billion building a new data centre in Sturgeon County. Photo by Gavin Young /Postmedia Network

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Premier Danielle Smith made several major promises about massive AI data centres in a video Tuesday.

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She said nobody’s electricity bills will go up. Water use will be minimal because of technical advances. The province will reap $250 million a year from the Meta project in Sturgeon County alone.

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There will be no cost to the public, only benefit from taxes, fees and royalties borne by the companies.

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In short, AI data centres in Alberta, such as Meta’s $13-billion whopper, will be matchless economic bonanzas.

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The video — at @ABDanielleSmith — is being widely praised as a master class in how to explain a complex issue to the public. Smith is at her absolute best as a presenter.

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Of course, the pitch is also condemned by opponents as super-slick hooey.

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This is not everyday issue management. The stakes and the risks are enormous.

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AI data centres are rapidly becoming the consuming issue of our age, both for their looming ubiquity and their enabling of massive advances that challenge human intelligence and control.

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Smith’s video is a list of almost utopian promises that must be kept. The UCP is totally committed to AI data centres, unlike more equivocal governments across the country.

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In some cases, opposition is derailing the centres. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, for instance, vetoed a project planned for south of Winnipeg, citing environmental and social concerns.

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Planned projects in B.C., Saskatchewan and Ontario have spawned huge protests.

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Nonetheless, about 100 centres are being pushed across Canada. A few are already built and dozens more are in the works.

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The opposition always focuses on local harms, from soaring electricity costs to environmental damage and possible water shortages.

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Behind it all lurks a factor Smith didn’t mention — the growing fear of AI and its almost mystical powers.

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Nobody complains when a massive Amazon warehouse comes to town. But when AI pitches up, fear is close behind.

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In the U.S., protests have arisen in Michigan, Arizona, New York, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, California, Pennsylvania and other states. Organized opposition groups are said to be active in 49 of the 50 states.

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Smith’s people see Alberta opposition as a left-right issue, with the NDP being typically obstructive. That’s partly true, but misses the point that for many people, the issue is more existential than political.

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A recent Angus Reid Institute poll in June showed that 74 per cent of Canadians doubt that any government can keep pace with AI.

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Sixty-eight per cent would oppose a data centre anywhere near them. Most striking of all, 79 per cent would tax companies that replace workers with artificial intelligence.

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Smith and her people think these fears are overstated. They believe hosting data centres gives Alberta and Canada huge leverage in the development of AI.

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They ask: Why hand all the facilities to the U.S. and China, leaving Canada as an AI backwater with no ability to shape policy?