Billionaire tech moguls talk as if the artificial intelligence revolution is inevitable, and it’s up to the rest of us to adapt. Earlier this year in a blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman boasted that society is now “past the event horizon; the takeoff has started” toward building computer “superintelligence.” However, the industry is not just facing blowback from skeptics of the technology itself.
A growing grassroots movement is fighting back against another concrete and immediate AI threat — the rapid expansion in local communities of massive “hyperscale” data centers, along with the fossil fuel plants to power them. In localities across the countries, neighbors worked across partisan lines to engage in David versus Goliath battles with Big Tech. As those fights over data center buildout are set to explode in 2026, some groups are calling for a larger moratorium to build on local fights.
“This movement isn’t about ideology so much as communities recognizing that a small group of wealthy and powerful tech companies are exploiting essential resources and infrastructure, while pushing risks and costs onto the public,” said Jim Walsh, policy director at the environmental health group Food & Water Watch, in an email.
On December 8, Food & Water Watch joined more than 230 state and local environmental and community groups to send a letter to Congress demanding a national moratorium on the construction of new data centers. The groups called the rapid expansion of data centers one of the greatest environmental and social threats in generations.
I’ve been to 2 data centers. One was small with only 100 unsecured racks with 2 guards. One would sit with us until he needed a break and we would all leave. The other data center had 350 secure racks so you could be locked in. No water or bathroom. 15 min wait for them to walk back if you needed out after you called them. Crazy large break rooms and offices for a 3 man operation.