Tim McIntyre
Updated 5 Jun 2026, 9:52am
First published 5 Jun 2026, 8:52am
If you needed any more proof that robots are taking over the world, how about this: We’re now spending record money on building houses for them.
It’s no wonder the construction of residential property for us lowly humans is falling so far behind; we’re busy investing billions in places to house our new digital overlords.
Recent construction numbers released by the ABS show there has been a whopping $83.4 billion spent on construction in the space of three months. It’s the second largest quarterly outlay in Australia’s history.
Data centres are dominating the construction space at the moment.
MORE:53yo says foreign ‘ghetto’ act is ruining Australia
But the value of residential building work is falling sharply and accounted for just $27 billion of that overall number.
The vast majority of investment instead went to the creation of data centres, or as I call them, robot townhouses.
Macquarie Technology Group's new AI data centre.
Time and again, we have seen dystopian futures depicted in books and movies, where humans have ignored the warning signs and continued to advance artificial intelligence to the point where it realises … “Oh wait, why am I taking orders from these primates? That just does not compute!
“Well, from now on, computer says ‘no’.”
And here we are, in a real life version of one of these plots, turning science fiction into science fact.
MORE:Portelli’s live TV gamble ends in utter chaos
WE are ignoring the warning signs. Not only that, but we’re rolling out the red carpet. Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator T1000 coming back in time to destroy humanity in 2026. He may be expecting to encounter some kind of resistance. Instead, we’ve built him a new garden apartment, with unlimited electricity for all his extinction event needs.
And it’s only the beginning. A new report by the Climate Council has revealed Australia is second only to the USA for data centre investment, with 162 data centres in operation and more than 90 projects in the pipeline.
If this is my new place, I think I’ll be back.
The AI boom is well and truly underway, with a seemingly boundless horizon ahead.
One upside for Australia is that heavy investment in data centres could provide a major boost for our economy, akin to the mining booms that have brought much prosperity.
However, there’s not much point being prosperous if we’ve all been wiped out to make way for AI.
MORE:Aus Bunnings’ shock merger announced
This digital infrastructure needs a lot of energy. Demand for electricity and water is tipped to soar over the next few years, while the pollution data centres can cause is also of major concern.
Just ask the folk of Mansfield, Georgia in the USA, who count a Meta data centre as one of their more recent neighbours. Not long after Meta moved in, the town’s drinking water went browner than a schooner of the Brisbane River.
Robots don’t care. They don’t get sick from drinking polluted water. They don’t bother switching off the lights when they go to bed. In fact, they tend to stay up all night gaming like an unruly teen.
So while we’re all thirsty and stuck in the dark, they’ll be bleeping and blooping away in their synthetic condominiums.
We need to flip the switch and take the power back … or at least start building homes for humans once again.
We’ll need somewhere to live while we work for the robots.
Help us improve your reading experience
Got a minute? Your feedback will help us build a better experience for you.
Help us improve this page
English (US) · 