The opposition to the wide proliferation of AI data centers has never been more palpable.
Public sentiment has squarely turned against the construction boom of massive facilities that often torture surrounding communities with deafening noise, cause electricity prices to spike, spew pollution, and deplete water levels in drought-prone areas.
It’s no wonder that across the country, local communities are crowding into their council meetings, pleading with representatives to oppose data center projects.
Amidst this growing bipartisan backlash, a fringe group of techno-apologists organized a self-described “pro-data center party.” The group, led by tech journalist Jonas Du and the Washington, DC-based “nonprofit talent agency” Young Voices, gathered at a “tech-bro watering hole” in DC called Pubkey over the weekend, as journalist Finn Hartnett put it in a write up for the Washingtonian.
It didn’t take long for protesters to show up to the event. According to Hartnett, one party crasher started yelling during the event and was quickly drowned out by booing and “USA, USA” chants, before being escorted out by security, an incident that was repeated at least two more times during the evening.
“We weren’t totally surprised by it,” Du told Hartnett. “I really do have no respect for people that try to make their case through interruptions, especially interruptions that violate the free speech rights of others.”
It’s not exactly surprising that the pleas of the protesters — who later told Hartnett that they can’t afford their energy bills thanks to data centers — are falling on deaf ears. According to a video shared by self-described libertarian commentator Reem Ibrahim on X, eventgoers appeared to be largely unaware of the harmful effects of AI data centers.
“Because I love the internet, and it allows me to be on the internet,” one event goer told Ibrahim after being asked why she was in favor of data centers.
“I love data centers so I can stream sports and then cry about my sports teams,” another attendee told Ibrahim.
Of course, both the internet and sports streaming services existed long before AI chatbots — and the infrastructure buildout supporting them — in recent years.
Other attendees repeated the well-worn talking points of politicians and tech leaders, like the proclamation that data centers will allow the United States to “win the AI race” and claims that the country is on the “verge of one of the most incredible scientific and technological revolutions.”
One event goer told Ibrahim that data centers brought “rural communities the ability to thrive,” “inject capital,” and “bring jobs” — despite a growing body of evidence suggesting that AI-focused data centers do none of these things.
Meanwhile, Du believes that people from both sides of the political spectrum have lost their minds, telling Axios that the party was meant as a response to the “bipartisan psychosis over data centers.”
He did, however, concede that “nobody here wants to see communities harmed economically or physically because of data center construction,” while emphasizing that “we all want to support economic growth at the end of the day.”
But whether supporting “economic growth” through tech leaders shoving AI down everybody’s throats without harming communities “economically or physically” is even a possibility at this point is looking less and less likely by the day.
It’s an inherently self-serving and naive position to take as tech giants repeatedly bristle at the mere concept of supporting local community initiatives and laundering their image through pro-data center ad spending sprees.
Perhaps it’s better, then, to stick your head in the sand and drown out the detractors by shouting “USA, USA” at full volume.
More on data centers: Microsoft Shrivels When Asked If Its “Good Neighbor” Data Center Policy Will Involve Actually Supporting Community Groups