Amazon’s recent move to abandon nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) in data center negotiations could be a PR coup, but will it appease the many communities opposed to these giant energy-hogging facilities?

On TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Sean O’Kane, Rebecca Bellan and Anthony Ha discuss the potential impact of this change. O’Kane highlights the communication gap: 'The industry just does a really poor job explaining itself.' Even with NDAs gone, data center opponents remain skeptical of long-term benefits and worry about immediate impacts like property values and energy bills.

‘We’ve seen, through a lot of the controversy and backlash to AI and data centers, that the industry just does a really poor job explaining itself,’ O’Kane said. ‘That they are obviously and constantly frustrated with the fact that most people can’t envision a world in which this stuff is useful for them.’

The conversation also touches on the broader trend of tech companies negotiating in secret, from Uber’s early days to current data center discussions. Rebecca Bellan notes that many moratoriums are short-term and may not have a lasting effect, while Anthony Ha points out that even long-term moratoriums can be sidestepped once environmental reviews are complete.

While Amazon’s move is a positive step towards transparency, it seems the tech industry still has a long way to go in convincing the public of the benefits of data centers.