The Democrats swept the Midterm elections on Tuesday night, but the Republicans weren’t the only ones dealt a blow. Americans went to the polls to voice their dismay over the unprecedented AI infrastructure buildout.

Even in places where they weren’t on the ballot through specific propositions, data centers became a central piece of candidate platforms and debates. So much so that several races across the country, particularly in areas ripe with data center development, became a referendum of sorts on the future of data centers and the AI industry.

There are many reasons why Americans are increasingly coming out against AI data centers. A portion of it has to do with backlash against the technology it is powering: AI-driven systems have been deemed semi-culprits in faulty military strikes, mass shootings, suicides, and surveillance. The CEOs of the AI labs building the technology have themselves promoted existential risks associated with AI development, spanning nightmare scenarios of mass unemployment and biological warfare.

But opposition to the massive physical infrastructure powering AI has grown even faster than broader public concern about the technology. Locals who share a neighborhood with AI data center projects have reported deafening noise pollution , rising utility bills, water shortages, concerns about harmful air pollution and associated health risks , and fears of tanking property values . A preliminary study has also linked data centers to higher land-surface temperatures in surrounding areas. Most planned data centers are located in rural areas, fueling concerns about the loss of agricultural land .

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