The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, June 27, edition that a group of first nations communities in Alberta is criticizing the Alberta Electric System Operator for its plan to allocate limited power to proposed data centres. The Globe's Joe Castaldo writes that in an open letter, four first nations chiefs urged the Alberta government to reconsider the AESO methodology, which they believe may create competition among smaller entities for a scarce share of electricity, undermining efforts to attract facilities necessary for artificial intelligence. "Alberta's current framework is capping our potential at the very moment we should be unleashing it," the letter states. In December, Alberta launched an AI data-centre strategy to entice companies to build in Alberta. "The current policy slices new power capacity into portions too small for global tech giants," said Chief Tony Alexis of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. Companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are among the biggest developers of AI, and need energy-hungry data centres to build and run the technology. By spreading out electricity among too many projects, the first nations chiefs contend that Alberta may not be able to attract these companies.