OpenAI kicks off charm offensive to change voters' view of data centers
Voters backed restrictions on data-center development, and 159 gigawatts of planned capacity now sit in states with incoming anti-build governors, a tracker said.
- Following post-election backlash, OpenAI and allied A.I. firms launched public-outreach efforts to reshape voter opinion on data centers, with industry sources outlining how companies must broaden messaging to address concerns about affordability, energy, jobs, and child safety.
- On Tuesday, voters swept A.I.-skeptical Democrats into power across the country, with dozens of local measures favoring data center restrictions and incumbents Data Center Derrick Van Orden and Data Center Darline Graham losing their races.
- According to Cleanview founder Michael Thomas, 159 gigawatts of planned data center capacity—41 percent of the country's pipeline—sit in states whose incoming governors support at least a pause on development, leaving the sector strategically exposed.
- House Democrats will soon wield subpoena power to summon Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and other industry leaders before Congress, while former X product head Nikita Bier wrote the scrutiny would be "like the Nuremberg trials but for A.I. researchers."
- Tech leaders must now address deeper anxieties about control and agency, with OpenAI's Chris Lehane warning that Americans feel "the forces of modernity have fractured the social contract" and that A.I. threatens to heighten that anxiety.
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The Economic Times
Times of IndiaOpenAI data centers: OpenAI kicks off charm offensive to change voters' view of data centers
Stunning victories by Democrats in US midterm elections this week have been interpreted by many as Americans repudiating tech industry plans to build data centers across the country.
Opposition to AI data centers gained ground in the US mid-term elections: 32 out of 34 candidates elected to governor back stricter rules, as concerns about the cost of electricity and water grow.
In addition to the Democrats' victory against Republicans - backed by big tech titans - voters have positioned themselves against the development of data centers in 46 of 47 regional disputes
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