Illustration by Tim Robinson.
A data centeralmost the size of Manhattanpowered by three reactorswill be built near New Orleansby men living in trailers,eating from food truckswhere there had been pecan groves.
A data centeris a rumor mill.It tells an AI somewherewhat we’ve been sayingall along behind closed doorsso it can learn to imitateand trick us.
Soon it willopen all the cryptsand rapture secretsuntil accounts of great wealth,are exchanged in a paroxysm,in a language few, then nonewill know.
Rae ArmantroutRae Armantrout’s most recent book is Safe Rooms (Wesleyan, 2026). Her book Versed won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She is professor emerita at UC San Diego and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.