Mark Cuban's warning that AI data centers could end up empty is being challenged, and the bullish case says demand for computing power is still only getting started.

• Cuban argues that if AI gets cheaper and uses less power, many data centers will end up useless and repurposed — he jokes they'll become pickleball courts.
• The counterargument is that this misreads the market, because demand for computing power is enormous and still growing fast.
• If any of these buildings do get abandoned, a darker guess is that they become private prisons — concrete, steel, and far from anywhere, and the Trump administration favors for-profit prisons.
• The bigger point for investors: the AI buildout is at the start, not near the end.

Outlook: Expect more spending on data centers in the near term, with the glut debate only settling once AI power use stops climbing.