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Received — 11 August 2026 ⏭

Annenberg Survey Finds Sharp Rise in Opposition to Local Data Centers

✇Science Mag
By: SCIENMAG
11 August 2026 at 14:41

PHILADELPHIA — Public resistance to new data centers has risen sharply across the United States, even as Americans’ overall views of artificial intelligence remain largely unchanged, according to a nationally representative survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings reveal a growing divide between public attitudes toward AI as a technology and attitudes toward the physical infrastructure required to operate it. While many people continue to see potential benefits from AI, particularly in medical research, opposition increases substantially when the technology is associated with a large industrial facility being built near their homes.

The survey found that 61% of U.S. adults somewhat or strongly oppose the construction of new data centers in their communities. That figure is 12 percentage points higher than the 49% recorded in an earlier APPC survey conducted in February and March. Support fell during the same period, from 21% to 14%. The change comes as communities across the country debate the environmental, economic, and social consequences of rapidly expanding computing infrastructure used to train and operate advanced AI systems.

Data centers are specialized facilities filled with servers, networking equipment, cooling systems, backup power supplies, and security infrastructure. AI applications can require enormous amounts of computational power because they process vast datasets and perform calculations across billions of model parameters. Training a large AI model may require thousands of processors operating simultaneously, while everyday use also depends on data centers to generate responses, analyze images, translate languages, and carry out other tasks. These facilities can consume substantial amounts of electricity and water, making their construction a highly visible local issue even when the software they support is used remotely.

Opposition to local data centers crosses political boundaries. Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents said they opposed new facilities in their areas, although the proportions differed: 69% of Democrats, 54% of Republicans, and 53% of independents expressed opposition. Resistance was strongest among adults younger than 30, reaching 70%, and declined to 57% among people 65 and older. The pattern is notable because younger adults are often assumed to be more comfortable with emerging technologies and are more likely to use AI-powered services in education, work, entertainment, and communication.

Despite the shift in views about local infrastructure, broader opinions about AI have remained stable. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they expected AI’s impact on the United States over the next decade to be somewhat or very negative, compared with 18% who expected a positive impact. The result was statistically unchanged from the spring survey. In addition, 68% said the federal government has done “too little” to regulate AI, a view shared by majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. The results suggest that concerns about AI regulation have become persistent rather than being driven solely by short-term news events.

Respondents distinguished sharply between areas where AI might produce public benefits and areas where it could create risks. Among 13 sectors examined, medical research and scientific discovery was the only category receiving a net-positive assessment, with anticipated benefits exceeding expected harms by 41 percentage points. AI systems are increasingly being used to identify patterns in biological data, predict molecular structures, assist with medical imaging, and help researchers screen potential treatments. These applications may accelerate work that would otherwise require years of laboratory experiments, although they still depend on human validation and carefully controlled clinical studies.

The most negative assessments involved personal privacy and data security, which registered a net score of minus 63 points. Children’s online safety followed at minus 50 points, while employment and jobs reached minus 46 points. These concerns reflect the technical and social consequences of deploying AI at scale. Models may be trained on or exposed to sensitive information, automated systems can make decisions that are difficult to explain, and workplace applications may alter or eliminate certain tasks. The survey does not measure whether these risks will materialize in specific industries, but it indicates that many Americans view them as more immediate than AI’s possible benefits outside medicine.

Personal experience with AI was associated with more favorable opinions about its national impact. Among respondents who said they had never used AI during the previous month, 54% expected its effect on the country to be negative. That proportion fell to 40% among light users and to 29% among those who used AI many times or almost every day. However, frequent use did not make people more supportive of data centers. Opposition to building new facilities near respondents’ homes remained essentially flat across different levels of AI use. This distinction suggests that familiarity may influence perceptions of digital tools, while concerns about electricity demand, water consumption, noise, traffic, land use, and local utility costs may remain regardless of personal experience with AI software.

“The people who use AI the most are the most optimistic about what it will do for the country, and that has been consistent across our surveys,” said Matt Levendusky, a University of Pennsylvania political science professor and the Stephen and Mary Baran Chair in the Institutions of Democracy at APPC. He said that optimism had clear limits, particularly when questions involved privacy, employment, or the construction of a data center nearby. The survey was conducted by SSRS for APPC’s Institutions of Democracy division among 1,320 U.S. adult citizens from June 16 through July 19, 2026. Respondents were surveyed primarily online, with a small telephone sample, and weighted to match population benchmarks. The margin of error for the full sample was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, with larger margins for subgroups. Together, the findings indicate that the next phase of the AI debate may be shaped less by abstract promises about intelligent software than by negotiations over the highly physical systems that make it possible.

Subject of Research: People

Article Title: Opposition to Local Data Centers Rises Sharply as Views on AI Hold Steady

Web References: Annenberg Public Policy Center news release; Reuters; The New York Times; Associated Press

References: Annenberg Public Policy Center Institutions of Democracy national survey, June 16–July 19, 2026; APPC AI topline survey data; APPC survey methodology

Image Credits: Annenberg Public Policy Center

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, data centers, public opinion, AI regulation, medical research, privacy, data security, employment, social surveys, political science

South Australia Launches AI Royal Commission: What Businesses Should Expect

✇eWeek
By: eWEEK Staff
10 August 2026 at 17:00
South Australia is launching an AI royal commission to examine how the technology is reshaping work, public services, and the economy. Businesses should expect greater scrutiny of AI governance, privacy, workforce use, and accountability as separate federal standards and privacy rules move forward.

AI data center bans surge past 500 nationwide as local US politicians begin blocking new developments — growing public outrage and bipartisan pushback threaten big tech expansion plans

✇Tom's Hardware
10 August 2026 at 13:25

The number of local bans on new data center developments jumped to over 500 in July, according to recent data. Local politicians in the United States are refusing to approve new data center construction in greater numbers, posing a threat to the expansion required by AI firms to provide the capacity needed to power the new technology. The analysis, conducted by The Information from legal documents and local news reports, shows that this isn’t a partisan issue.

Republican- and Democrat-run states, towns and counties have all begun to block new data center projects, with Texas and New York both prominent entries from both sides of the political divide, and with the majority of the bans appearing in the Midwest and South, according to the report.

Politicians aren’t doing this out of spite, but in response to the growing concern from residents over the impact on communities. Among them are the impact of noise on local residents, as well as the disproportionate impact on public services, including on water and electricity supplies. It follows Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s moratorium on data center approvals in recent weeks until an extensive audit has been conducted of companies looking to hook their new centers up to the Texan power grid.

The Information’s analysis shows that the bans are growing fast, jumping from 300 in late June to over 500 in July. The ban in Texas is particularly noteworthy due to the state becoming a prominent home for AI data centers. Despite Governor Abbott’s pause, Amazon is still hoping to build a new gas power plant in Pecos County, Texas, to power a data center at the same location. That location is already believed to likely become the single biggest source of environmental pollution in the U.S. once it’s operational.

The rapid growth of new data centers in Texas and nearby states has likely fueled those concerns from residents. The Information reports that most of the bans are in the Midwest and South, with more than 400 restrictions now in place, with nearly three-quarters of the moratoriums approved in July occurring in southern states like Georgia and Florida. Florida, in particular, is quickly stopping new developments, with 14 out of 23 current active restrictions in that state being approved in July, and 15 more under consideration.

Small and big, rural and urban states alike are all seeing political capital used on preventing AI data center expansion. Kathy Hochul, Democrat Governor of New York, recently signed an executive order that paused approval for all data centers consuming 50 megawatts of energy or more. Massachusetts and Nebraska halted tax breaks for developers, while in Colorado, 19 bans are now in place around Denver, and more elsewhere in the state, due to concerns specifically around the impact on the environment and on water usage. In Nashville, Tennessee, a 23-acre data center development next to a zoo, expected to cost up to $700 million, is also facing local and political resistance.

It’s no surprise to see politicians begin to wake up to the public malaise against AI development. Over 70% of Americans are reportedly against more AI data centers, and direct resistance against them is growing, with at least 37 people arrested so far this year for protesting against new developments.

Over 70% of Americans oppose AI data centers; US protests intensify as more arrests are being made — almost 40 arrested this year in backlash to AI factory buildout

✇Tom's Hardware
10 August 2026 at 12:40

The public pushback against data center construction projects is only growing stronger, even as some protesting local residents have been arrested in the process. That hasn't perturbed those still standing against the AI infrastructure projects, though, and they continue showing up at town meetings, holding protest rallies, and making themselves heard — even with the 24/7 drone of a data center hum in the background.

The latest effort saw Nashville residents and local politicians move to block the construction of a $700 million data center set to be built right next to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. The city council approved a blocking measure last week, and now Mayor Freddie O'Connell will wield it to make sure the project doesn't go ahead.

This follows on from another recent story where a Kentucky farming family was offered 10 times their land value to sell up to data center developers, and they refused. Virginia's State Corporation Commission, which regulates public utilities, just ruled that data centers must pay for all the required transmission infrastructure that they have exclusive use of, in an effort to reduce energy bills for residents.

Nobody wants to live near a data center

Data center projects have been firmly disliked by large bodies of Americans since the beginning of this major AI buildout. Early in 2025, it became clear that even as the major AI companies were promising hundreds of billions for "AI factories," governments around the world rushed to build capacity. There was only one problem: residents near the proposed build sites would not be taking it lying down.

In April 2025, Elon Musk's Colossus data center was an early target for protest after it was found to be using permitless mobile gas turbines for power. It's been hit with enough pushback since then that SpaceX has now agreed to remove the 69 turbines it ultimately installed, although it is going to take over a year to complete the move of these allegedly mobile turbines.

By the Fall of last year, evidence had begun to mount about the negative impact of these installations. Water shortages and potential contamination, electricity price increases for residents, and the constant, unending noise that may be causing health problems with sub-audible frequencies.

There's also the slowly growing number of "against" voices in polling for new data centers. What started as a light advantage to the "supports" respondents in September became a near-majority a few months later. Now more than 70% of Americans don't want data centers near their homes, and there's little chance of that changing as the stories of issues during and after construction of these facilities continue to mount.

How the people are fighting back

Protest has been at the forefront of the anti-data center campaigners' playbook since the start, and that's not stopping any time soon. On one weekend in July, anti-data center protestors organized in 42 states to stage 142 protests across the country, all calling for blocks, halts, and moratoriums on the data center rollout.

This is after months of campaigning, which led to close to 70 jurisdictions around the country blocking new data center builds. Some of them, permanently.

Where politicians are more on the side of the developers, the people are going to meet them in person. They're going to town halls and seeking meetings and making their voices heard.

Sometimes politicians don't like that, and people are removed - even when protesting peacefully - and in several cases they've actually been arrested. Close to 40 people have been arrested in 2026 for pushing back against data center rollouts. In one case, because they went beyond their allotted speaking time, and in another, because they clapped following an impassioned statement by a fellow citizen.

In other cases, though, politicians are listening. In Nashville, the local council and the mayor are all on board to protect the local Zoo and residents' bills and ears. This is particularly important because it shows that local legislators can use their political power to block data centers — potentially preventing the White House from using its own to drive projects through.

The forever war

The data center builders aren't taking all of this helplessly. They have the ears of government and massive platforms to evangelize AI and data centers; They've been doing it everywhere from the White House to social media. They've tried building in more rural areas where there are fewer people to protest, paying for their own behind-the-grid power, and offering to spend millions in local investment to counter negative effects.

But it's not working. People don't like data centers. They don't want to live near them. And on top of that, many don't even like the technology the hyperscalers want to build this all for, anyway.

It's unlikely that those bankrolling (and hoping to make money on) the data center AI build-out will just give up and go home, but the residents fighting back against their gargantuan construction projects aren't going to do so either.

This is a long war, and one that neither side is likely to back down from. But in a rare ray of hope in 2026's landscape of high PC and electronics prices due to AI data centers soaking up computing hardware, it's one that the people seem to be winning, for now.

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