Americans Use AI to Block Data Centers

Rural communities in the United States want to push back against IT giants. Activists in the state of Ohio, for example, are opposing the mass development of land by data centers. As one of their tools, they are using artificial intelligence for their legal and organizational strategy.

AI Against Its Creators

Local residents fear that everything will be built over, turning natural landscapes into industrial zones. For routine tasks, they are using AI. 

Jessica Sharp, a social worker, uses chatbots to transcribe official meeting records and speed up the analysis of legal documents. According to her, this is the only way for an ordinary person to handle the massive volume of complex bureaucratic information.

One of the leaders of the protest movement, realtor Jessica Baker, openly describes her use of AI as a tactic of “using the beast against the beast.” She uses AI to draft official document requests, allowing volunteers to respond more quickly to changes.

What Environmental Risks Are Residents Trying to Avoid?

The state of Ohio has already approved more than 200 data centers, and with this number expected to grow, residents are increasingly concerned about the following:

• Excessive consumption of electricity and water. According to forecasts, by 2030, data centers may consume up to half of all electricity in the United States, as well as enormous volumes of water.
• Unstable supply to residential homes. Since large facilities require vast amounts of electricity and water, there is a risk to the stability of the residential supply.
• Environmental impact. The use of non-renewable energy sources to power data centers undermines local climate protection efforts.

Has Anything Changed?

Activists have already achieved significant results: across the country, around 20 projects worth nearly $100 billion have been frozen or postponed. In the state of Maine, a moratorium (temporary government ban) has been introduced on the construction of new data centers until the end of 2027.

In addition, volunteers are collecting signatures to ban the construction of large data centers, and a bill has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to prohibit officials from signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with tech giants. According to the author of the bill, Congressman Greg Landsman, corporations currently benefit from cheap land and tax incentives, leaving communities with environmental problems and high costs.