Full disclosure: I'm a big fan of Roald Dahl's work — his books and the movies made from them. Even the ones like 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which Dahl himself wasn't especially fond of.
So when I saw a quote in a Bridge Michigan story where a business executive from a construction company proclaiming hyperscale data centers to be "golden tickets" for Michigan communities, I immediately thought, "He doesn't understand that story very well, does he?"
Yes, Charlie Bucket does find one of the golden tickets in a Wonka Bar, and in the end his dreams come true. But only because he is the only pure and selfless one who deserves it. In the story of AI data centers, who is the Charlie character? Well, I don't know who exactly, but I would say that it would be somebody like Pope Leo who recently shared his thoughts on AI in his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas." (Little known fact, Magnifica Humanitas is Latin for Charlie Bucket.)
I don't think most business executives have much in common with the Pope, especially the bros of the AI world. They sound more like the other children with golden tickets who had much different endings — Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teevee. But mostly Veruca Salt.
Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
