The Data Center Backlash Bursts Into the Midterms

“The fight over data centers is suddenly at the epicenter of the midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.

“One new ad in Texas begins with someone typing into a chatbot, ‘Why is my electric bill going up?’ Another in Ohio blames one of the state’s Republican senators for a proliferation of data centers, calling them ‘a total scam.’ And in top House battlegrounds in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the Democratic challengers are all running ads against the server warehouses powering the artificial intelligence boom.”

“Data centers have become unlikely fault-lines in the broader fight over an A.I. revolution that is remaking the global economy and threatening to disrupt the job market. Now politicians are racing to tap into the backlash — or inoculate themselves — as political strategists in both parties described the issue as an unusually fast-moving force that is already reshaping races for the House, the Senate and governor’s mansions.”

NewsNation: Tech industry “screwed up” communication about data centers.