The AI industry has lost an astonishing amount of goodwill with the public.
Once seen as exciting new tech that could make our lives easier and better, the construction of countless new data centers to support power-hungry AI models has soured the mood considerably. Protesters are waging a war against $130 billion in data center investments, arguing they’re only benefiting a select few wealthy individuals, while threatening water supplies, driving up the cost of living, and churning out incomprehensible amounts of pollution.
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has caught on to the backlash, as it slowly dawns him and his fellow executives that the vast majority of Americans want nothing to do with them.
“Clearly, people hate data centers — right now, at least,” Altman told Time in a new interview. “People are pretty negative on AI.”
