Australian PM wants to ban data centres near schools

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese plans to ban large data centres from being built near schools, homes, and farms when meeting with state leaders this week, according to AFP. His government aims to pass a national artificial intelligence law, similar to Australia's first ban on teen social media, which will establish rules for AI training, including copyright, security, and safety.

New South Wales, Australia's largest state, is assessing 26 new data centre projects worth A$100 billion. A proposal to build a data centre in the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains near a school was withdrawn due to community opposition. Albanese plans to outline minimum water and energy standards for data centres and rules to minimize community impact by locating them away from sensitive areas.

He will argue that the data centre boom must maintain community support, and that hosting AI training data centres will help Australia capture more economic value and strategic influence from AI. Albanese also plans to discuss establishing conditions to attract investment in frontier AI training, ensuring AI development is safe, secure, and respects copyright and creative sector rights.