Millions of people are asking tools like ChatGPT questions every day. But your questions don’t just fly up into the ether. They go to a real place.

AI has a backend, and it looks like massive data centers sprawling across farmland in places like central Washington.

Data centers provide the essential infrastructure needed to run AI apps and everything else we do on the internet. And tech companies say they bring economic prosperity to communities that desperately need it. But those benefits come at a cost.

On this week's episode, we travel to a place where the data center boom is well underway to find out how the AI boom is reshaping small towns.

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It's been almost 25 years since the Nisqually earthquake, the last "big one" to hit Seattle.

But the region is due for an even bigger one -- one that could be more massive than the underwater quake that just hit off the coast of Russia.

The Nisqually quake did at least $2 billion worth of damage across the Puget Sound region. It hit Seattle’s historic brick and stone buildings hard, and the city has learned a lot of expensive lessons about what would make them safer.

So... is old Seattle worth saving? And is there a way to do it that won’t bankrupt the owners, or the city?

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bellevue, Washington – Seattle's neighbor to the East - is having a bit of an identity crisis. For decades it’s been the younger sibling... trying to get out from under Seattle’s shadow.

But now, Bellevue is preparing for a major change. Workers are putting finishing touches on the long-awaited link across Lake Washington. When it’s finished next year, two of the largest cities in our region will be connected by light rail for the first time.

Bellevue’s older sibling, Seattle, has been in the limelight for a long time. Is it Bellevue’s time to shine?

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.