“And I’d argue it’s convenient to blame this solely on power issues, when the reality is clearly based on construction timelines that never made any sense to begin with. If it was just a power issue, more data centers would be near or at the finish line, waiting for power to be turned on.”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
Data center delays come from unrealistic construction timelines, not only power, because otherwise more would be finished and waiting for power.
Assessment: Unresolved Evidence as of
Where and when Ed Zitron wrote it
Where's Your Ed At, The AI Industry Is Lying To You, paragraph 84.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence as of
- the cutoff for this assessment
- Assessment recorded
- assessment wyea-the-ai-industry-is-lying-to-you-730283-a1
We recorded 33 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.
The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-28. The source may have been edited after 2026-03-24. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Causal claim
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No horizon (the release’s reference date)
From the speaker
- blame this solely on power issues
- reality is clearly based on construction timelines
- never made any sense to begin with
- more data centers would be near or at the finish line
- waiting for power to be turned on
Our interpretation
- Read the claim as saying that unrealistic construction schedules independently explain the delays being discussed, beyond power constraints.
- The claim does not deny that power constraints exist.
- Assess the ongoing situation at publication, using project histories through March 24, 2026; no historical starting date is supplied.
- Unfinished buildings alone do not establish the cause of delay. Power uncertainty could affect whether construction starts or proceeds.
- The counterfactual requires evidence about how developers sequence construction and power procurement.
Counts as supported if: Project records show that original construction schedules were infeasible because of independent non-power constraints and that those constraints materially caused missed delivery dates. Evidence also supports the inference drawn from the scarcity of completed sites waiting for power.
Counts as contradicted if: Matched project records show feasible construction schedules whose execution was delayed by power availability, including decisions to defer construction until power could be secured, undermining the claimed causal explanation.
Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.
Current assessment
Does the evidence support the cause?
Outcome: Unresolved
The record was checked, and the evidence available by the cutoff does not settle it.
Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.
- Evidence as of
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
Independent research documents projects with little construction progress despite near-term delivery targets. It also identifies long power-connection lead times. These findings establish delivery risks, but they do not separate the causes or validate the counterfactual about completed buildings waiting for power. The stronger claim that unrealistic construction schedules explain the delays remains unproven.
Limitations
- Aggregate delay statistics do not establish project-level causation.
- Construction and power procurement may affect each other.
- The speaker supplies neither a project sample nor a counterfactual threshold.
Evidence (2 items)
Context only: Sightline Climate / Currence,
no visible construction progress
Why it matters here: The construction shortfall makes delivery schedules questionable. It does not establish whether unrealistic construction assumptions, unavailable power, or another constraint caused the lack of progress.
- Publisher
- Sightline Climate / Currence
- Kind of source
- Independent measurement
- Describes events of
- Public from
Context only: JLL,
lead times exceeding four years
Why it matters here: Long connection timelines provide a material competing explanation. The report does not show whether developers kept building while awaiting power or postponed construction because of it.
- Publisher
- JLL
- Kind of source
- Independent measurement
- Describes events of
- Public from
What would settle it
Matched original schedules, construction milestones, utility delivery dates, and documented reasons for delay, together with a representative count of completed facilities awaiting power.
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Where's Your Ed At, The AI Industry Is Lying To You
And I’d argue it’s convenient to blame this solely on power issues, when the reality is clearly based on construction timelines that never made any sense to begin with. If it was just a power issue, more data centers would be near or at the finish line, waiting for power to be turned on.
- Where
- paragraph 84
- Published
- 2026-03-24
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment wyea-the-ai-industry-is-lying-to-you-730283-a1: Current. Outcome: Unresolved. Evidence as of 2026-10-28. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.
About assessment wyea-the-ai-industry-is-lying-to-you-730283-a1.