I'm convinced the anti data center movement is foreign propaganda

I think it's a natural reaction to the "our AI systems are really dangerous and might kill you all and will definitely take your jobs" messages that have been coming out of the AI labs for the past few years.

They've dialed them back a bit now, but way too late. That message has sunk in.

Campaigning to prevent data centers from being built is the most actionable thing a US citizen can do, because it's a local issue (and hence something they can influence), plus they can use arguments about noise and power prices and water pollution to help make the case.

(I think most of those arguments don't stand up to scrutiny - as light industry goes data centers are pretty minor, would you prefer a concrete plant in your back yard? But I don't think the arguments are the point for a lot of people. It's about having a way to oppose AI generally.)

I don't see why I shouldn't be against them. It doesn't benefit me in any way, it just increases my electricity costs. Nor am I sure there is even a market for the majority of proposed data center builds, if this exponential growth/need for computing power doesn't hold we will be flushing money down the toilet, and largely on the public's dime since most of it is funded by loans and debt. Even if LLMs achieve all that is promised and more, that just means more people out of work sooner and the already powerful and wealthy gain more power and wealth than anybody else.

In some alternate universe, the AI companies could have used some of their billions to subsidize consumer accounts, or something, rather than just let 'supply and demand' raise the rates for all the people that they needed to not vote against them. why should anyone not directly benefitting from AI be charged more for their monthly keeping the lights on bill? The short-sightedness of the powerful never ceases to amaze me.

i work in AI and i think we should hit the brakes: get a better oversight mechanism in place, help local municipalities get more in exchange for building them (no more tax incentives, NDAs, high emissions power sources), those are good places to start.

rushing ahead with the 'it might destroy us but we've gotta beat China!' is silly bullshit.

And the debt financing needs to stop.

There's a sensible path forward that doesn't involve a full stop, nor maintains the previous trajectory.

I have no doubt there's foreign bot armies amplifying these things, but foreign bot armies understand they're most effective when the amplify real sentiments.

And the anti-data center stuff is a very, very real sentiment.

I know actual people who are deeply opposed to AI (well, the current AI tech anyway), for what seem to them to be good moral reasons.

I find the attitude a bit weird and very left-wing purity-spiral stuff, but it is a real attitude that real people have.

It's both. It's not either or. It's absolutely both.

There are good reasons for people to be pissed off about data centers in the U.S.

China is absolutely funneling money to push anti-datacenter sentiment, and many of the people involved/receiving that money are not aware of where that money came from.

We are at the crux of a national security spiral in AI development that is naturally unpopular at home.

You know it's entirely possible for China to be pushing this while dropping their own fortune into research, and for everyone to lose their investments.

Don't get me wrong, it's no that the tech is useless, especially for militaries and surveillance states, but it's not the economic miracle or 'new industrial revolution' so many have gotten away with promoting. I think many here will be shocked at just how quickly a fad can die when the money implodes.

Who are the people receiving money from China to be opposed to the wasteful data center buildout, and how can I get some? I'm still waiting for my check from Russia / Iran / Qatar for being opposed to Israel's genocide campaign.

what is the purity spiral and why is it left wing?

it seems like a group of issues that the general public might be concerned about

>what is the purity spiral and why is it left wing?

People trying to 1-up each other leading to the beliefs of a group being more polarized[1]. The naming doesn't imply it's a partisan phenomenon, any more than "right wing politician" implies politicians are a right wing phenomenon

[1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/

i know what a purity spiral is. i was asking what this one is about and why the comment implied it is partisan

The datacenter opposition is definitely partisan, even if you can find some overlap in supporters

https://www.economist.com/content-assets/images/20260905_USC189.png

[delayed]

I would think that Elon Musk being Trump's lapdog while owning so much AI compute that he rents it out might have something to do with it.

> for what seem to them to be good moral reasons

Like the desire to have a livelihood?

And not wanting all knowledge and skills strip-mined and then sold back to us.

Yeah it's not like all these ai-tech oligarchs enabled trump to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each and he proceeded to disenfranchise voters, kidnap minorities, and make a mockery of environmental protections. "left wing purity spiral stuff" people are watching community members without criminal records languish in work camps.

My neighbors take issue with people getting the wrong roof on their house. Not surprised people being against a data center nearby.

What do those have to do with each other?

People are very NIMBY about these things.

Because they’re loud?

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuq/comments/1t7293k/this_is_the_sound_a_data_center_makes_around_the

Or could pollute the entire town’s water supply?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/08/us-datacenters-wastewater-pollution

Or air?

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pollution-musks-unpermitted-xai-power-project-hits-hardest-black-communities-2026-07-14/

We’re going to pretend that these are the same concerns as an HOA squabble about wrong roofs? I like AI as a useful tool worth investing in but let’s not be dismissive about what people are actually mad about, because this dismissive attitude is exactly why SV finds itself where it is.

I think we are on the same side. I’m saying people get angry about little things, no wonder they would get angry about even more serious issues.

Why...? Or is this just a sarcastic way of saying you disagree with the movement?

> I'm convinced the anti data center movement is foreign propaganda

Exactly! No rational person could oppose supergeniuses like Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, etc., so if people do, the logical conclusion is that they've been manipulated by a psyop.

Science is my superpower!

My electricity bill is 50% higher than this same month 1 year ago. My friends and neighbors in my city have said that they also have greatly increased electricity bills. Whether or not that increase is due to a specific data center, it's extremely easy to blame it on the increased electricity usage of data centers, no foreign propaganda required.

My electricity cost per kWh has just about doubled over the last 3 years, but afaik, it's mostly related to legislated changes to the energy mix and increases in fuel costs.

Fuel costs are up for lots of reasons, more demand for electricity could certainly be one of them... Inflation is certainly another component.

If the problem is demand outstripping supply then the obvious thing to insist on is that if they want to build, they should add more supply than they're consuming, so that they're fronting the money to make your electric bills go down.

Whereas instead we keep seeing proposals to ban them outright, which is the thing you'd expect to be pushed by someone with a different interest than domestic electric bills.

> they should add more supply than they're consuming

In some places they're scavaging old jet engines and using them to generate electricity for data centers. Lots of noise, not very efficient - very bad idea. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/03/climate/jet-engines-ai-data-center-generators-boneyard.html

it is woke mind virus propagated via 5g towers and vaccines