The Editor's Post: Can social enterprise data centres make AI work for communities?

In a rare occurrence of our big tech overlords putting their petty bickering aside, on Tuesday Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Dario Amodei and other executives from AI firms got together with US president Donald Trump to agree to establish voluntary standards for AI safety.

Do you remember back in the summer when there were protests against AI data centres across the world? Opposition to building new data centres was everywhere, from rural Scotland, to central London, in the US, India, Australia and more.

Then, people from within the Silicon Valley AI industry started talking about the theoretical threat AI could pose to the future of humanity, and all of a sudden data centre protests were old news. The media cycle moved on, as everyone got familiar with the term “p(doom)” – the probability of AI causing human extinction.

For companies trying to sell AI products on the basis of their incredible capabilities, it isn’t entirely unhelpful for the global media to be talking about the immense power of AI, while also no longer reporting on protests against the infrastructure projects necessary to develop the technology.

Which brings us back to this week, because Trump used the announcement of the AI safety standards to assure the public that the tech companies would work to make communities “happy” about the construction of data centres.

It can feel like the “AI juggernaut” is going to flatten everything in its path. But it will come as no surprise to Pioneers Post readers that social enterprises are already demonstrating that there are alternatives to the big tech AI industry, with all its associated social and environmental harms.

As we report this week, in Australia, social enterprise AI consultancy Cadent has built a solar-powered data centre. While significantly smaller than the data centres communities have been protesting against, Cadent founder James Gauci says it is able to meet the AI needs of 90% of individuals and organisations.

What’s more, Gauci argues that if set-ups like Cadent’s were more prolific, the need for massive, water-guzzling data centers would be greatly reduced.

Stories on the fight for a safe place to learn by Pioneers Post trainees

The Education Issue, an annual print and online newspaper compiled of stories by young education campaigners trained in journalistic storytelling by Pioneers Post, was launched last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

This year the theme of the newspaper was ‘a safe place to learn’, and all ten stories are well worth your time. I worked on the six-month training programme with my colleagues Anna Patton and Julie Pybus, alongside the team at our partners Theirworld. Knowing how hard the participants worked, it’s a real pleasure to see the stories published.

Having mentored three of them through the programme, I’d like to direct you in particular towards Precious Phyllis Apolot’s story on the stigma and financial pressures facing young mothers in Kenya and Uganda, Nischal Raj Gautam’s video about a school in Nepal for children living with HIV and Lara Sayess’ coverage of how organisations are supporting young migrants in London.

Applications will open later this year for the 2027 edition of the programme, and we can’t wait to meet the next cohort of Theirworld trainees.

Esther Rantzen: a word from our editor

Julie Pybus writes…We know that many of our readers in the UK will have been saddened to learn of the death of broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen this week. She was not only known for her journalism, through presenting TV programmes such as That’s Life!, but also for her charity and campaigning work. She established Childline in 1986, a confidential phone line for children facing cruelty or neglect, and then The Silver Line in 2013, to support lonely older people.

And that’s why we interviewed her almost exactly ten years ago, which was a little while after, at the age of 75, she was named an Ashoka fellow in recognition of her role as a ‘social change champion’. Our reporter Ellie Ward took a Black Cab ride with Rantzen around some London locations that meant a lot to her, while she described the power of the media to support social change. Check out too our article in which she’s quoted as saying: “I’ve always been solution-focused as a journalist. It’s always seemed to me that if you’re going to investigate a problem, you really need to ask yourself, ‘is there an answer?’”

Our thoughts exactly!

This week's top stories:

The social entrepreneur who built a solar-powered AI data centre in his home

When your living room is a micro-art gallery: How South African townships are building a community-owned creative economy

Pioneers Post trainees publish stories of resilience and change in The Education Issue

The Impact World this Week: 02 October 2026

Top image: A protest against AI data centres outside Scottish parliament in Edinburgh (credit: Action to Protect Rural Scotland)