Data centers, internet hubs, and undersea cables: a tangible network, dirty and acting as a
bottleneck for AI.
The digital age has long since reached public and private life and a world without email, TikTok, the web, and AI seems unimaginable. But technology hangs by a thread: what if power for data centers becomes scarce, undersea cables are sabotaged, and graphics chips are sanctioned? Researchers, industry, and the military are searching for solutions to prevent a digital blackout.
Mobile surfing doesn't need cables, paperless offices are environmentally friendly and there are more than enough computer suppliers. Three statements that prove to be myths as soon as you look behind the scenes of the internet and AI. Because in reality, the virtual world is astonishingly real: Data centers are springing up everywhere, full of hardware that consumes vast amounts of energy for cooling and data processing. Huge diesel generators are designed to prevent digital blackouts in case of emergencies. Is AI becoming the biggest climate killer, and the digital office becoming a polluter?
Global data traffic still depends on undersea cables for 95 percent of its transmission. To date, these lifelines of the web era remain an easy target for terrorists and state-sponsored saboteurs in many places. Because the global economy depends on them, the French navy therefore patrols the cable routes with high-tech equipment. For European security agencies, too, digital infrastructure is one of the Achilles' heels of the age of hybrid warfare. Acts of sabotage on submarine cables, such as those recently seen in the Baltic Sea, demonstrate the vulnerabilities of our civilization.
One of the scenarios for an internet meltdown is the collapse of supply chains in connection with political conflicts or crises. But how can Europe become independent of US or Asian quasi-monopolists for GPU technology? Because even if “cloud computing” sounds light and airy, there is massive technology behind it. This documentary shows the challenges of a digital future between science, economics, and geopolitics.
The digital age has long since reached public and private life and a world without email, TikTok, the web, and AI seems unimaginable. But technology hangs by a thread: what if power for data centers becomes scarce, undersea cables are sabotaged, and graphics chips are sanctioned? Researchers, industry, and the military are searching for solutions to prevent a digital blackout.
Mobile surfing doesn't need cables, paperless offices are environmentally friendly and there are more than enough computer suppliers. Three statements that prove to be myths as soon as you look behind the scenes of the internet and AI. Because in reality, the virtual world is astonishingly real: Data centers are springing up everywhere, full of hardware that consumes vast amounts of energy for cooling and data processing. Huge diesel generators are designed to prevent digital blackouts in case of emergencies. Is AI becoming the biggest climate killer, and the digital office becoming a polluter?
Global data traffic still depends on undersea cables for 95 percent of its transmission. To date, these lifelines of the web era remain an easy target for terrorists and state-sponsored saboteurs in many places. Because the global economy depends on them, the French navy therefore patrols the cable routes with high-tech equipment. For European security agencies, too, digital infrastructure is one of the Achilles' heels of the age of hybrid warfare. Acts of sabotage on submarine cables, such as those recently seen in the Baltic Sea, demonstrate the vulnerabilities of our civilization.
One of the scenarios for an internet meltdown is the collapse of supply chains in connection with political conflicts or crises. But how can Europe become independent of US or Asian quasi-monopolists for GPU technology? Because even if “cloud computing” sounds light and airy, there is massive technology behind it. This documentary shows the challenges of a digital future between science, economics, and geopolitics.
Channel: Arte
Production: werwiewas medienproduktion
Duration: 53 Minutes
Date: 18.11.2025
Production: werwiewas medienproduktion
Duration: 53 Minutes
Date: 18.11.2025