American AI leadership justifies building more power for data centers

Platform regulation, artificial intelligence, surveillance, data privacy and the antitrust scrutiny of large firms, as they are argued in American politics. A domain where federal law lags well behind deployment, leaving states and the courts to set the boundaries instead.

Large computing facilities built to train and run artificial intelligence models, and the public questions they raise about electricity, water and land. Fought locally through zoning and utility rates, and nationally through energy policy, grid capacity and federal support for the industry.

Opposition to AI data centers is mobilizing across the political spectrum, from environmental campaigners to former Tea Party conservatives, over electricity costs, water use and the tax breaks states grant operators. Figures from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump have taken up the issue.