Voters’ data-center backlash puts AI expansion under scrutiny
Voters had a message for the AI industry on Tuesday: not in my backyard. Local ballot measures to limit or ban data centers passed almost everywhere, and candidates promising tighter oversight won key races, including Texas’s governor contest. The tallies depend on who’s counting (the Times has restrictions passing in 40 of 41 measures, while Ars Technica counts 38 of 44), but the direction doesn’t. Power bills, water use and pollution are the complaints, and they’re sticking.
So a buildout that’s already short on computing capacity could get slower. Lenders are now treating local opposition as a financing risk, and tech firms are hiring community liaisons to smooth things over. Big Tech would like you to read all this as anti-Trump, not anti-tech. I’m not sure voters are drawing that distinction. (Ben Thompson’s take on AI being on the ballot is worth a read, too.)
Democratic gains raise prospects for AI and data-center restrictions
The Democratic wave changes the policy math, too. Transformer AI expects momentum for safety tests and approval requirements on powerful models. And incoming governors in Texas, Ohio and Georgia have backed construction slowdowns that analysts say could delay a big chunk of planned U.S. capacity and keep AI costs high. Actual legislation? Still a big maybe.
OpenAI isn’t waiting around. Chris Lehane is already pitching policies on worker training, safety and education ahead of 2028, though critics say the agenda is light on binding protections for workers and accountability for companies.
Quote of the Day
It might be that we would have been better off never developing it.
AI Pioneer, Geoffrey Hinton, the Guardian
Other Links
- WSJ: Arm Holdings Revenue Grows 27% on Strong Artificial Intelligence Demand
- TechCrunch: Meta acquires AI coding startup Conductor
- TechCrunch: Google faces backlash for plan that would turn off Search for schools that restrict AI
- TechCrunch: Almost no one uses AI agents to book their Uber, company says
- WSJ: Datadog Stock Drops After AI Customer Scales Back Usage
- Bloomberg: Apple Cuts Internal AI Usage Budgets in Move to Reduce Spending
- WSJ: AI Security Startup Sentra Raises $150 Million to Police Autonomous Agents
- TechCrunch: Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows
- the Guardian: AI ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton: it might turn out we were better off without AI
- WSJ: U.S. Was Unprepared for Drone Warfare, Pentagon’s Emil Michael Says