Americans really don't want AI data centers close to their homes
Key takeaways
- Mario Tama/Getty Images AI companies are spending astronomical sums of money on building data centers as quickly as possible in order to increase their compute power.
- The polling company asked 1,000 adults across the US about their views on AI data centers, and 71 percent were against having one in their local area.
- There are plenty of reasons to not want to live close to data centers.
Mario Tama/Getty Images AI companies are spending astronomical sums of money on building data centers as quickly as possible in order to increase their compute power. But the majority of Americans don't want that infrastructure close to their homes, according to a Gallup survey.
The polling company asked 1,000 adults across the US about their views on AI data centers, and 71 percent were against having one in their local area. Almost half of the respondents (48 percent) were strongly opposed. On the flip side, just seven percent were strongly in favor of having a data center close to their home.
There are plenty of reasons to not want to live close to data centers. They often require a lot of land. They can be loud, and some nearby residents have raised environmental concerns over noise pollution. SpaceX's AI division (formerly xAI) recently added more natural gas turbines to a Mississippi data center, despite facing a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. Other companies are using such turbines to power data centers too. Data centers also tend to use a lot of water, which can cause shortages.