Voters Said No to Data Centers. Now What?

Voters have decided 47 local data center measures this year, and 46 went against data centers. In Monroeville, Ohio, 88% voted against allowing them.

Mostly money, but many also cite noise and water consumption as key reasons. Residents say they’re footing the bill through rising power bills and tax breaks, and about 4 in 5 voters said they oppose one in their own community.

Big time. Democrats who campaigned against data centers won governor races in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Nevada and Iowa, and Texas alone hosts a huge share of planned AI capacity.

There’s no telling, but, expect delays and higher costs in some areas of AI. Some Texas projects could slip 12 to 18 months or move to friendlier states, and Meta’s president admitted expansion is “going to be harder.”

An independent watchdog called METR reviewed Anthropic’s work and found its AI is helping the company progress about twice as fast as it would without it.

That’s the worry. METR says Anthropic’s public report understated the speedup, and it can’t rule out a “substantial further acceleration” in the next six months.

He did. In September, Dario Amodei wrote that labs must slow the pace of AI progress, warning self-improvement could outrun our ability to understand and control it.

Not really. Its pedal to the metal for now. Claude now leads about 26% of Anthropic’s research work, up from under 1% in February, and the company is still racing toward its IPO.

📉 AI stocks crash after the midterms

🐉 Tencent drops its Hy4 model

💳 Claude can now read your bank accounts

🗾 Japan wants a heads-up on AI-found bugs

🍎 Apple cuts engineers’ daily AI budgets

👋 Google offers buyouts but spares DeepMind

Challenge: Voters killed data centers because they hit people’s power bills. This week, dig up what’s planned near you and whether you’re already paying for it.

Here’s what to do:

🔍 Step 1: Find what’s coming. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or your favorite model with web search: “Are any data centers built or proposed near [your town]? Who’s behind them, and how much power and water will they use?”

🗺️ Step 2: Double-check the map. Compare its answer with this free data center tracker, since AI can miss projects or mix up locations.

💵 Step 3: Follow the money. Ask: “What tax breaks did they get, and has [your electric company] asked regulators to raise rates because of data centers?”

🧾 Step 4: Check your bill. Upload your last few electric bills and ask it to spot any increases and explain the line items. Cover your account number first.

📣 Step 5: Speak up. Whether you’re for it or against it, have your AI find the next city council or utility meeting and draft a short public comment you can read in two minutes.

Would you vote yes on an AI data center in your town? And should Anthropic slow down now that its AI is speeding itself up? We'd love to hear your thoughts!