Google Plans Secret AI Military Outpost on Tiny Island Overrun By Crabs

An anonymous reader shares a report: On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Google is planning to build a large AI data center on Christmas Island, a 52-square-mile Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, following a cloud computing deal with Australia's military. The previously undisclosed project will reportedly position advanced AI infrastructure a mere 220 miles south of Indonesia at a location military strategists consider critical for monitoring Chinese naval activity.

Aside from its strategic military position, the island is famous for its massive annual crab migration, where over 100 million of red crabs make their way across the island to spawn in the ocean. That's notable because the tech giant has applied for environmental approvals to build a subsea cable connecting the 135-square-kilometer island to Darwin, where US Marines are stationed for six months each year.

[...] Christmas Island's annual crab migration is a natural phenomenon that Sir David Attenborough reportedly once described as one of his greatest TV moments when he visited the site in 1990. Every year, millions of crabs emerge from the forest and swarm across roads, streams, rocks, and beaches to reach the ocean, where each female can produce up to 100,000 eggs. The tiny baby crabs that survive take about nine days to march back inland to the safety of the plateau.

.CX

[goldspider]

I think we all know nothing good ever came from that place.

Re:.CX

[ogre2112]

It's burned into my brain.

Re:

[Tablizer]

Now it's burned into AI's brain also

Re:

[know-nothing cunt]

AI will now stand for Anus Inconceivable.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we all know nothing good ever came from that place.

It does at least earn an infamous moniker.

Hell of an footnote to come across for those who dare reach deep into the bowels of internet histo..alright I'll punch myself out now.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Do they also hold lemon parties and provide every two girls with one cup on Christmas Island?

No impact

[Jogar the Barbarian]

52 square miles is pretty big. I don't see how one "large AI data center" could make a dent in the crabs' commitment.

...Maybe dumping large amounts of heated water offshore?

The "Cute and Adorable Crabs" news

[will4]

Simply report the news and not make it into the "home of cute adorable crabs" show:

Original article at Reuters:
Exclusive: Google planning powerful AI data centre on tiny Australian Indian Ocean outpost
By Kirsty Needham - November 6, 20252:59 PM CSTUpdated 6 hours ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/... [reuters.com]

Article based from the original Reuters article
It’s a crab, crab world
Google plans secret AI military outpost on tiny island overrun by crabs
Christmas Island facility would support naval surveillance in str

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

It's not even that, Christmas Island has next to zero infrastructure, with a modest amount of power for homes available from diesel generators and that's it. Why would Google build a power- and cooling-guzzling data centre on an island in the middle of the ocean with no infrastructure to support it? It seems like a bogus report.

Re:

[vlad30]

It's not even that, Christmas Island has next to zero infrastructure, with a modest amount of power for homes available from diesel generators and that's it. Why would Google build a power- and cooling-guzzling data centre on an island in the middle of the ocean with no infrastructure to support it? It seems like a bogus report.

It might be a way to get around Australia's Nuclear Power ban https://www.9news.com.au/natio... [9news.com.au] Christmas Island is a territory that is handled differently and why It had illegal migrant detention centres were put there to get around a few pesky laws now they ship them to another country

Not so Secret now

[IMNTPC]

Well, if they were trying to be secret, I'd say it's out now.

Hmm

[backslashdot]

What would happen if the crabs merged with the AI?

Re:

[taustin]

If history is any indication, the AI will eventually evolve into crabs anyway.

Re:

[dbialac]

Crab People. [fandom.com] On a more interesting note, the Christmas Island migration is also clear evidence that crustaceans don't feel pain. During that migration, the crabs cross a rail line that gets incredibly hot. Most crabs crawl over the rails with no problem, with just a brief interaction with the tips of their feet. However, some park themselves under the rails to rest. The rails, being incredibly hot, will cook the crabs alive if they stay put. If they felt pain, they would leave right away.

Re:

[backslashdot]

What the heck kind of unscientific baloney is that? Crabs, like all crustaceans, have a nervous system. They have pain receptors, they have opiod receptors, and exhibit avoidance learning.
Reference 1: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737... [mdpi.com]
Reference 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com]

How many actual science articles you need on this? Where are your references/actual studies? The rail behavior you described, if true could be explained many ways. And btw I checked the typical temperature during migration, it's typ

Re:

[dbialac]

I"m not your research assistant. Go look yourself, but I will clue you in to the fact that the railway (image 8) [nationalgeographic.com] shut down in 1987. What you do reference is a bunch of vegans unhappy about lobsters and crabs being boiled and who are desperate to find a way to get people to stop eating them. You may be among them. If you are, feel free to continue to wonder why nobody who isn't a vegetarian or vegan buys impossible burgers. The answer to that question is it was their (your?) problem that you had and that nob

Re: Hmm

[backslashdot]

That railway picture proves nothing. I told you that the Christmas Islands are typically not hot during the migration. I pasted actual scientific journal articles that showed crustaceans have a nervous system and do avoid pain. You know, actual experiments. I am not a vegan. I eat crab. However I am not going to compromise scientific logic to claim crabs donâ(TM)t feel pain. They avoid pain, and remember how/where it occurred. Numerous experiments have proven that. I donâ(TM)t think any animal sho

Re:

[Frank Burly]

I think one of the Dune prequels has the Butlerian Jihad being waged against a cyborg crab. Please, no one else read that book to confirm or refute.

Re:

[r1348]

Is that the one where Brian Herbert shits on his father's legacy? Oh wait, that's all of them.

Re:

[glowworm]

What would happen if the crabs merged with the AI?

Nanites.

Re: Hmm

[newcastlejon]

Ask the lobsters. [wikipedia.org]

Well, according to the AI

[Chris Mattern]

We can defeat the giant enemy crabs by hitting their weak points for massive damage.

Re:

[Alypius]

New achievement! Crab Chowder! [fandom.com]

Re:

[dbialac]

Defending it is an obligation for the Australians as it is part of the peace terms of the Australian-American war.

Weird.

[edi_guy]

Presumably there are reasons unbeknownst to the public where building a data center there makes sense. But seems really odd that given the energy requirements for data centers that they would decide to plop one down here. Cost of construction must be at least 2x that of the mainland...so also weird.

Maybe a cover story for some NSA listening post? Looks like the have dorms for the workers though....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_Point_Immigration_Detention_Centre

Re:

[Alypius]

Wasn't this the plot of "Cryptonomicon"?

Re:

[gkelley]

personal might grow tired of eating crab at every meal

Re:

[glowworm]

I also dont buy "AI Datacentre" and think "Llistening post". Not just the power on the island which is merely four Wartsila 2.6MW diesel generators, but the interenet connectivity. In addition the weather isn't the best and there are regular Hurricanes. Plus despite the jokes, the crabs are protected and even get their own bridges over the roads.

So yep, of all the places it's the worst to place a datacentre, and discissions about the datacentre needing to be near China are just nonsense. It would be dar wi

Sci Fi tells us how this will end:

[Tablizer]

...The AI will grow sentient, irradiate the crabs to make them larger and stronger, merge with their nervous system, and these Bionic Crabs will then hijack ships and battle the humans for control of major cities. An injured renegade Google employee will gave a child a special fob that can stop them, but only if...

Re:

[jenningsthecat]

...The AI will grow sentient, irradiate the crabs to make them larger and stronger, merge with their nervous system, and these Bionic Crabs will then hijack ships and battle the humans for control of major cities. An injured renegade Google employee will gave a child a special fob that can stop them, but only if...

Shhhhh! Stop giving them ideas!

Re: Sci Fi tells us how this will end:

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

...the Professor says "Good news, everybody"...'

Clever intelligence?

[NotEmmanuelGoldstein]

They want to put military equipment on an isolated, easily-accessed island. One can only assume the equipment does not play well with ordinary buildings and electronics. Eg. Radar/microwave technology.

Technically, that problem doesn't disappear: They've got to build long-distance cable (and probably, a satellite tower as back-up), power plant, electronics and the secret military hardware that doesn't like all that infrastructure. Plus, they're doing it a place that surveillance drones can easily acces

forward operating AI data center? why?

[Jayhawk0123]

This makes zero sense... proximity is irrelevant and more a hindrance for high value digital processing facilities/military targets... between increasing exposure to attack by proximity alone, you decrease ability to defend from an actual attack - it's an island! You complicate maintenance, staffing, repair, costs....weather/storms...

As others have hinted, the location on the equator makes it a decent listening post, and potentially jamming/interfering of Satelite systems in the hemisphere.

Aluminum hat says- Electronic warfare center.

Next to the the immigrant confinement centers?

[jfdavis668]

Or did they finally close that down?

Non sequitur?

[mjpaci]

Aside from its strategic military position, the island is famous for its massive annual crab migration, where over 100 million of red crabs make their way across the island to spawn in the ocean. That's notable because the tech giant has applied for environmental approvals to build a subsea cable connecting the 135-square-kilometer island to Darwin, where US Marines are stationed for six months each year.


What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Also, TIL that US Marines are stationed i