Anti-data center protests have sprouted up across the country.
Getty Images
They're ugly. They're noisy. They sprawl across the landscape. They gobble up energy and water.Americans hate data centers and don't trust the Big Tech companies that need them. But they love using the artificial intelligence models they power.More than half of Americans used an AI chatbot in July, according to new data from Morning Consult. And it's not just experimenting — Americans are increasingly using AI chatbots multiple times a week. Yet 70 percent of Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their community, according to a Gallup poll from May.The disconnect is emerging as one of the central political challenges surrounding the AI boom — and it's one that politicians from both parties must navigate as the midterms approach. The issue has repeatedly shown up as a divisive theme in races across the country.It's an especially thorny thicket for President Donald Trump as he tries to lead his party to hold its majority, considering his full-throated embrace of data centers despite their massive energy needs.On Monday, Trump warned that communities that resist data center development do so at their economic peril."The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame."But even Trump acknowledged last month that the industry may have an image problem."The construction jobs are enormous," Trump said at a White House event with crypto executives last month, arguing that if he were a mayor or governor, he would "absolutely want" an AI plant or data center in his community because of the jobs they would create and tax revenue they would generate.
