Showing posts with label voter opposition to AI data centers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voter opposition to AI data centers. Show all posts

Thursday, August 6, 2026

The A.I. Giants Weren’t Prepared for This; The New York Times, August 4, 2026

 

, The New York Times; The A.I. Giants Weren’t Prepared for This

"What is big and ugly and has united Republicans and Democrats at a time when it has felt nothing could? A.I. data centers.

Last August a Heatmap News poll found that approximately four in 10 voters would oppose a data center being built where they live. By May of this year, opposition grew to seven in 10. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida — a Republican, of course — proposed legislation that was known as an A.I. Bill of Rights.

Senator Bernie Sanders called for a national data center moratorium — one of more than 100 local or statewide moratorium proposals across the country. And in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, not usually thought of as a hard-core populist, just imposed a one-year moratorium on data center construction."