Can the Data Center Backlash Save Democracy?

Gregg Feistman:

The public backlash against more data centers is growing, with outrage coming from across a divided electorate who have suddenly become grass-roots activists. Can this united front help save democracy?

Let’s start with the origin story. The rapid growth of developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the past few years has pushed companies to get on board or get left behind. This corporate Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), despite AI falling short of its promises in most cases, has caused companies to spend wildly on AI, even though the Return on Investment (ROI) has been mostly underwhelming. In fact, a May 2026 KPMG survey of more than 200 U.S.-based executives found only 26% said the operating costs of AI are fully visible to them. And Boards and shareholders are starting to question the value of this AI gold rush. 

Couple this with AI labs building data centers on any open land they can find, the documented increase of water use and electricity for power, and the accompanying environmental damage and higher consumer bills, the average consumer is getting punched in the wallet. And they care about that. A lot. 

While corporate executives are experiencing FOMO, employees are fearing FOLTJ – Fear Of Losing Their Jobs. A fear not helped when many corporate executives use terms like “efficiency” and “streamlining” as an excuse to fire people. In fact, Ford, IBM and Commonwealth Bank of Australia all recently announced they were hiring back workers who had been laid off because of AI investment. It turns out these companies regrettably realized they needed human beings to oversee AI, not the other way around. And they were cutting off their own pipeline for future talent.

Is it any wonder people are pissed?

AI labs don’t have a PR problem, they have a business problem. And part of the reason they have a business problem is because they haven’t made the effort to build social capital and trust with consumers as a first step.

Understandably, they started with building social capital with the local, regional and state-level politicians. That was necessary for land acquisition and permitting to start construction, and they promised local jobs, something every politician can get behind. 

Then they stopped. There has been little-to-no effort behind getting to know local communities, hearing their concerns up front and working with them to resolve issues, e.g., no social capital on their most important stakeholders. Hence the growing collective backlash.

This being a U.S. midterm election year, the political class is finally listening to what their voters are saying, and we’re seeing some of them back off their rush to welcome data centers into their town, region and state. There’s also some national movement to consider AI and data center regulation, although the states (and other countries) are way ahead of the Federal level on this, albeit with a hodgepodge of different regulations depending on location.

Even the AI leaders are finally starting to take notice, and perhaps belatedly, trying to flip the script to position AI as an aid to benefit humans, rather than a replacement. Even Sam Altman of OpenAI seems to recognize this, stating recently “Our industry underestimated how much we’re going to be able to keep people at the center of everything.” Is it too little, too late?

This growing discontent is uniting people and we’re witnessing democracy in action. Could it be a portent of things to come, when people find more things in common to work on than what’s dividing them? Only time will tell. 

With more data center construction being announced on an almost daily basis (and even Elon Musk’s vision of data centers in orbit), the backlash will continue to grow and a united front will only get stronger – evidence that public opinion can still make a difference and democracy can still work. Now we need to come together and apply those lessons to other areas we all care about.

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Gregg Feistman is a Professor of Practice, Public Relations at Temple University and co-author of “Raising Social Capital: Corporate Advocacy and Impact in a Time of Social Change.