Article By Jenn Gidman
Public is overwhelmingly less than thrilled with AI’s data centers, energy use, threats to jobs
Americans are souring on artificial intelligence so fast that even tech royalty is getting booed. When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told University of Arizona graduates that AI’s impact would eclipse past tech revolutions, the crowd answered with loud jeers—a snapshot of a backlash now spilling into politics, permitting fights, and even law enforcement, per the Wall Street Journal. Polls show that support for rapid AI development has plunged, with Democrats especially wary and only tech founders strongly in favor. Concerns range from job losses and classroom cheating to mental health and soaring power bills tied to the explosion of data centers.
The anger at data centers, which Quartz calls “America’s newest political villain,” isn’t just online, the Journal notes. Last month, a Texas man allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at the residence of OpenAI chief Sam Altman, while an Indianapolis councilman who backed a data center project says someone shot at his front door and left a note reading “NO DATA CENTERS.” The backlash is increasingly reshaping local races: Voters in Festus, Missouri, for example, threw out four City Council members days after they gave the green light to a $6 billion data center.
Organizers say hundreds of thousands have joined Facebook groups opposing such projects, and watchdogs count dozens of data centers worth more than $150 billion delayed or scrapped in the past year. In Texas, the state agriculture commissioner has called for a halt to new hyperscale centers over grid strain and costs to farmers, while activists from Michigan to Tennessee are rallying against projects backed by Oracle and Elon Musk’s xAI, citing pollution and threats to creative work. Bloomberg notes that some critics are even turning to prayer to keep AI at bay.
For the tech industry, which has bet tens of billions on relentless growth in computing power, the mood shift is an emergency. Companies are pouring hundreds of millions into the midterms and scrambling to reframe the debate, emphasizing tax revenue and promised AI benefits. OpenAI’s global affairs chief, Chris Lehane, blames “doomers,” already-existing distrust of social media, and steady negative coverage for stoking fears, noting that firms are working on issues like energy use and children’s safety. Data center executives are now conceding there’s a “disconnect” between their message and public sentiment—one that, for the moment, is only widening.
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