Frontier AI labs are pouring trillions into data centers, but public sentiment is turning against them. Surveys show that over 60% of Americans now favor limiting new data centers, with opposition growing rapidly. The latest report from Data & Society reveals that people are wary of utopian industrial promises, with deep-seated fears of industrial change.

Trade unions support data centers for potential jobs, but once built, these centers won’t be major employers. Resistance is diverse, spanning classic NIMBYs, environmentalists, and those concerned about public health. People are worried about power bills, property values, and the tactics used by data center developers.

“There’s a significant group of people who are just really clued into their town hall meetings and might notice that a representative from Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, showed up here, or a data center developer showed up at my community meeting,” says Maia Woluchem. This patchwork of concerns presents a challenge for the AI industry, as trust is hard to win and harder to keep.

The report highlights that people aren’t just against development; they’re against the way development is being pitched. The industry’s message of inevitability has landed poorly, and residents in Pennsylvania, with a historic experience of industrial change, are particularly suspicious. The industry faces a complex task in addressing these concerns, as trust and the perception of transparency are key.