- Political action committees are funneling millions of dollars into candidates and adverts in an attempt to change perspectives on AI and data centers
- Numerous states have changed regulations on data centers, making them increasingly hard to gain approval for new projects
- The US economy is hinged upon the growth of AI companies, and opposition is costing money
A new breed of AI-aligned super political action committees (SuperPAC) is spending millions of dollars in an attempt to get pro-AI data center candidates elected in this year’s midterm elections.
Data centers have become a hot political topic with the majority of Americans preferring to have a nuclear reactor in their backyard rather than an AI data center. Americans are also increasingly concerned about AI and its effects on the job market, the environment, and their own health.
But these perspectives just don’t align with AI companies, who have seen unprecedented growth in their model’s capabilities and their stock value. For that growth to continue, perspectives on AI and the infrastructure behind it need to change.
Build data centers or become ‘backwards and poor’
There are a few main players behind this movement. Leading The Future (LTF) has become a key funder behind pro-AI and pro-data center candidates, but also says it is using its millions to oppose those opposed to AI - as if the midterms weren’t already confusing enough.
But a new group, Build American AI, has emerged to run pro-AI and pro-data center ads in key battleground states of Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Republican party recently issued a call for help from AI firms over AI opposition due to fears it could cost them the Ohio senate race.
If that were to be the case, it could lead to a wider change of floating voters aligning themselves with whoever is opposed to AI data centers.
Even Nvidia is jumping on the PAC train, having recently set up NVPAC to shape policy in its own favor. Nvidia has an enormous stake in AI technologies, given that it commands an enormous share of the hardware used in most AI data centers.
The Trump administration has aligned much of America’s politics around AI. To remain a global power ahead of China, AI cannot be slowed down. To remain on top of America’s battlefields at home and abroad, AI is being integrated into every arm of the military and all aspects of law enforcement. Opposition to AI is therefore opposition to America’s future, or so Trump would want you to believe.
The US economy is currently being buoyed by the surge in growth experienced by AI companies, but the models they are creating have been labelled not only a threat to financial institutions, but also a threat to financial stability of the world.
“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
Trump’s referrals to taxes and jobs raise an interesting point, because numerous states have lost out on billions of tax revenue due to data center exemptions, and numerous studies have shown AI is leading to job losses in multiple industries.
There is also a large amount of infighting within the Republican Party surrounding support for data centers. Many representatives that previously pushed for data center construction - such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott - have done a 180.
AI could therefore go from a revolutionary technology to one of the most divisive political issues of the Trump administration and beyond.
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