"Since the surreal scene at the 2024 presidential inauguration, when a row of big tech titans took their VIP seats and signaled their new alliance with Maga, the Trump administration has rolled out the red carpet for Silicon Valley's AI ambitions and shareholder priorities. Washington has doled out billions in lucrative federal subsidies and contracts to the cash-rich sector, bloating an AI bubble that experts warn may imperil the entire economy while prohibiting any guardrails on the fast-moving technology."
"In 2025, about 48 datacenter projects worth an estimated $156bn were blocked or stalled by local opposition. By all measures, 2026 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for the AI resistance. But as the anti-datacenter movement has grown, it's come under fire from all sides, including from liberal critics who dismiss it as another privileged form of nimby (not in my backyard) politics with naive demands."
"In truth, anti-datacenter organizing is the real fight, one centered on an industry choke point that people can reach out and touch. This brewing populist resistance isn't just about limiting local development it represents a critical new front in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism. Where else can people push back on job-eating algorithms, distorting deep fakes, and autonomous drone strikes?"
"From rural North Carolina to suburban Virginia to the foothills and farmlands of New Mexico and Oregon, ordinary people are coming together across partisan divides to say no to a status quo that allows tech lobbyists to ram through datacenter deals at a breathtaking clip, often behind a veil of secrecy enforced by NDAs."
Big tech and the Trump administration have expanded support for AI through federal subsidies and contracts, accelerating datacenter development while limiting guardrails. Experts warn this growth could endanger the broader economy by inflating an AI bubble. Resistance has emerged through local opposition that targets datacenter infrastructure, with about 48 projects worth an estimated $156bn blocked or stalled in 2025. The movement is expected to grow in 2026. Critics dismiss it as privileged NIMBY politics, but organizers frame it as a practical choke-point response to job-eating algorithms, deepfakes, and autonomous drone strikes. Communities across states are pushing back against rapid, often secretive datacenter deals protected by NDAs.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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