We need AI, but the political backlash cannot be ignored

Artificial Intelligence holds the promise to improve life on the planet almost beyond description, such as developing new cancer therapies, but breakneck development of the data centers that run AI (along with more mundane applications from gambling to porn to cat videos) has spurred a grass-roots political backlash that is growing and could be a major factor in this year’s elections.

If dismissed by political and corporate leaders, the backlash threatens to result in extreme measures such as the ban on data center development just passed by the legislature of Maine, which Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) want to impose nationally.

Local rejection of data center projects is growing rapidly. Virginia, the “Data Center Alley” of concentrated development, reflects the magnitude of the backlash. A recent Washington Post poll showed that Virginians’ support for data centers locating in their communities dropped from 69 percent just three years ago to only 35 percent now. The precipitous drop in support for data centers cuts across all voters, Democratic, Republican and independent, and in all areas of the state, urban, suburban and rural.

The backlash on the Bernie-AOC left may be rooted in ideological rage against corporate wealth and power, epitomized by Big Tech companies........

© The Hill