Seven in 10 Americans oppose AI data centers in their communities, new Gallup poll reveals

AI Companies Are Thirsty for Data Centers, but Americans Oppose Them Nearby

A recent Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans oppose data centers, which require extensive amounts of electricity and water to operate, and negatively affect local communities. There's a growing backlash against the construction of local data centers, which consume massive amounts of electricity for compute and water for cooling in order to power artificial intelligence. According to a newly released Gallup survey, 7 out of 10 (71%) Americans oppose new AI data center construction in their area, with nearly half (48%) saying they're strongly opposed. Data centers have drawn increased scrutiny and resistance, with concerns about water shortages, noise and air pollution, and the depletion of land and energy resources. Communities across the US have protested new construction, and calls for moratoriums and bans have been growing. This is the first poll that Gallup has conducted about data centers. The results highlight some of the reasons Americans oppose them, with environmental impacts, such as energy and water consumption, topping the list. Other reasons include quality-of-life concerns, the effects data centers might have on utility builds, pollution and negative views of AI itself. Another survey question asked respondents about their attitudes toward the construction of a nuclear power plant to generate electricity. Nuclear power plants are viewed more positively than data centers, with 53% opposing them. Those in favor of data centers in their area cited economic benefits such as job opportunities and tax revenue, and technology benefits, such as meeting the demand for AI tech. The data center race is driven by companies at the forefront of AI technology -- OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Anthropic and others -- as they compete for control of the industry. For its part, Nvidia dominates the AI chip market, providing high-performance GPUs and CPUs that populate data centers. The AI race has become so competitive that there is talk of building data centers in space (as SpaceX's Elon Musk has proposed), at sea and even in people's backyards. Anthropic and SpaceX recently signed a major data center deal that would advance data-in-space efforts, and Google is also rumored to be working on a partnership with the rocket-maker. These deals are driven by the increasing demand for apps, streaming TV and other data, but primarily by the processing power required for AI, including popular large language models, or LLM chatbots, like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude. To accommodate that, data centers are expanding capacity or being newly built, in some cases at an enormous scale. One proposal in Utah that has drawn public outcry would be twice the size of Manhattan and would require more electrical power than the entire state uses. That $100 billion proposal, called the Stratos Project, is backed in part by Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary, who said it will create 10,000 jobs. Local residents have pushed back against O'Leary's comments about the project, including his claim that protesters against the project were bused in. A recent Politico story reported that a data center in Georgia used 30 million gallons of water without initially paying for its usage. Another recent poll by YouGov found that 71% of Americans believe the pace of AI development is too fast, with 64% expressing doubt that AI will create economic gains that benefit everyone. A Brookings report released earlier this month studying the employment effects found that data centers can create new jobs, but the employment potential is vastly overestimated by local governments and AI companies. Unlike factories, data centers operate more like warehouses for computers running on expensive chips, and many jobs associated with data centers are temporary during the buildout phase. Many AI critics say that AI infrastructure proposals should include more energy-efficient measures to mitigate the heavy environmental footprint, and that more research is needed on the long-term health and economic impacts on local communities.

Americans really don't want AI data centers close to their homes - Engadget

AI companies are spending astronomical sums of money on building data centers as quickly as possible in order to increase their compute power. But the majority of Americans don't want that infrastructure close to their homes, according to a Gallup survey. The polling company asked 1,000 adults across the US about their views on AI data centers, and 71 percent were against having one in their local area. Almost half of the respondents (48 percent) were strongly opposed. On the flip side, just seven percent were strongly in favor of having a data center close to their home. There are plenty of reasons to not want to live close to data centers. They often require a lot of land. They can be loud, and some nearby residents have raised environmental concerns over noise pollution. SpaceX's AI division (formerly xAI) recently added more natural gas turbines to a Mississippi data center, despite facing a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. Other companies are using such turbines to power data centers too. Data centers also tend to use a lot of water, which can cause shortages. Electricity costs have soared for folks in some areas given the vast amount of power required to run data centers, though some tech companies have pledged to mitigate price increases. The residents of Lake Tahoe in Nevada and California don't quite know where their power is going to come from as of May 2027 after their current supplier decided to focus on serving data centers instead. Half of the Gallup survey respondents who said they'd oppose the construction of a local data center cited the effects on resources, such as water use, power grid constraints and deforestation, while 16 percent mentioned noise, air, water, light and heat pollution. Just under a quarter (22 percent) said they had quality-of-life concerns related to the impact on property values, health, traffic and how much space these facilities take up. Fourteen percent of respondents cited their personal dislike or distrust of AI, while 12 percent noted their concerns about AI supplanting human workers. On the contrary, 55 percent of those in favor of building data centers in their area said they'd lend their support because of job opportunities. Two thirds cited local economic benefits more broadly. A tenth noted personal benefits, with nine percent claiming that they already use AI. Just one percent said they already supported AI or tech in general. Interestingly, only six percent of those who'd support local data center construction said AI was the future or that it was inevitable, despite AI companies trying to hammer that message home for the last few years. Some jurisdictions have moved to block the construction of data centers. The council of Monterey Park in Los Angeles County, California recently enacted a ban on new data centers within city limits. New York state lawmakers have proposed a three-year moratorium on new data centers, and there are efforts at the federal level for a nationwide pause. On the other hand, Maine's governor last month vetoed a bill that would have temporarily banned the construction of data centers that consume at least 20 megawatts of power.

7 in 10 Americans oppose data centers being built in their communities

Jeff Dixon, center, and other community members listen during an informational meeting last month in Lusby, Maryland, about a proposed data center development. (Nathan Howard/For The Washington Post) Public opposition to data centers is hardening as overwhelming majorities of Americans now oppose construction of the facilities in their communities, according to a newly released Gallup survey. The poll, conducted this spring and released Wednesday, found that seven out of 10 Americans said they would oppose a data center being built near them, including nearly half who say they strongly oppose the projects. Opposition is so intense, the poll found, that more Americans would rather live near a nuclear power plant than a data center, which are designed to fuel demand for artificial intelligence.

Almost half strongly oppose AI data centers in their area: Gallup

Close to half of Americans are strongly against artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in their area, according to a new poll. In the Gallup poll, 48 percent said they would generally "strongly oppose" building "a data center in your area to support artificial intelligence, or AI, technology in the U.S." Twenty-three percent said they would generally "somewhat oppose" building a data center, 20 percent said they would generally "somewhat favor" it and 7 percent said they would generally "strongly favor" it. Measures attempting to halt or reign in data center construction have recently gained momentum at the state and local level, with Americans turning on the expansive buildout of AI infrastructure in their communities. In April, the Maine Legislature became the first in the U.S. to pass a bill barring the development of large-scale data centers and a Wisconsin city approved a referendum to allow voters greater say when it comes to major tax-funded projects due to the construction of a local data center campus. A recent analysis also found companies increasingly citing AI as reasoning for layoffs, with April being the second straight month AI was listed as the top reason for layoffs. The Gallup poll took place from March 2 to 18, featuring 1,000 respondents and plus or minus 4 percentage points as its margin of sampling error.

Amazon, Meta And Microsoft's AI Data Center Push Faces Strong Revolt -- Seven In 10 Americans Don't Want Hu

A new Gallup survey published on Wednesday found most Americans oppose building AI data centers in their local area, highlighting growing public resistance as technology companies rapidly expand artificial intelligence infrastructure. Gallup said 71% of Americans oppose AI data centers nearby, including 48% who are strongly opposed. Opposition to AI data centers was also significantly higher than opposition to nearby nuclear power plants, which stood at 53%. Respondents cited concerns around electricity use, water consumption, pollution, noise and rising utility bills. The survey also found opposition was strongest among Americans worried about environmental quality. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to strongly oppose nearby data centers, while women registered higher levels of strong opposition than men. Buildout Surge The findings come as major technology companies accelerate spending on AI infrastructure and data center construction. The Kobeissi Letter noted that data center construction has surged 228% since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, reflecting how AI demand is reshaping commercial real estate and infrastructure investment. At the same time, Counterpoint Research estimated the global data center CPU market could expand to roughly $80 billion by 2028 as AI workloads increasingly shift toward inference and real-time processing. Backlash Grows The rapid expansion is also creating political and community resistance. Last month, Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the nation's first proposed statewide moratorium on new data center construction, though the state still moved toward studying the sector's impact on infrastructure and energy systems. Goldman Sachs estimates global data center electricity demand could rise 220% by 2030, underscoring the growing tension between AI expansion and local environmental concerns. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.