Data Center Developers Are Fighting the Fear of an AI Takeover 

Americans would rather have a nuclear power plant in their community than a data center. That's how scary data centers have become. 

That fear is voiced locally as worries over energy, water, and noise. But it's terror over the broader implications of AI, including its perceived threat to humanity, that's making data centers scarier than the risk of a nuclear meltdown. 

Developers and technology firms trying to advance these AI infrastructure projects need to understand the foundation of the fear they're fighting, and take steps to support their new neighbors so they can turn the AI revolution into personal opportunity while also committing to transparency and publicly supporting guardrails for the fast-growing industry. Then they need to make sure the public hears about it.  

The Numbers Behind the Fear 

Opposition to data centers is widespread and runs across party lines. Gallup found in March that seven in 10 Americans oppose a data center in their own backyard, with nearly half of them strongly opposed. A June survey from Echelon Insights found voters opposed a data center in their community by 62% to 27% , and that more of them would welcome a nuclear plant next door than a data center. Even after hearing the industry's best case for the economic and technological benefits, opposition barely budged. 

Further polling exposes a deeper fear over the very survival of humanity. A Pew Research survey found the share of U.S. adults more concerned than excited about AI reached 50% in June 2025, up from 37% when Pew first asked in 2021, with 57% rating societal risks as high. That Americans are more afraid of data centers than nuclear power makes sense in this context, particularly when you consider that a December 2025 YouGov poll put broader concern that AI could threaten humanity at 77%, including 39% who said they were “very concerned.” 

Lately, AI industry leaders have said they’re worried, too. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called this month for the industry to slow down, warning that AI capabilities are advancing dangerously fast without adequate safeguards. Sam Altman and Elon Musk both publicly agreed with him, and Altman said OpenAI is delaying its IPO over safety concerns.  

Money Helps, But It's Not Enough 

This deep opposition to data centers, and the AI industry they’ve become the face of, has developers wondering what they’re supposed to do.  

Taylor Budowich, founder and president of the Innovation Council and former White House deputy chief of staff, recently got part of the answer in the Washington Post. He points to Richland Parish, Louisiana, where a Meta data center's tax revenue quadrupled teacher bonuses, and to Loudoun County, Virginia, where data centers fund roughly a quarter of the county budget, cutting the typical homeowner's property tax bill by thousands of dollars a year. He also points to Quincy, Washington, where about 30 data centers now shoulder more than half the town's property taxes and helped pay for a new hospital, high school and library. 

Budowich’s advice for developers is simple: show people what's actually in it for them. 

He's right, but only halfway. The data around positive impact of data center investment doesn’t do much for the deeper fears about whether the AI transition will leave Americans without jobs or might even put an end to human existence. 

What Developers Need to Do Next 

Developers need to take on the two competing fears – societal disruption and AI takeover – in separate, but coordinated buckets.  

On societal disruption, developers should: 

• Invest directly in local job training, built with community colleges and trade schools, that gives people the tools to get a job at the data center and beyond it, whether that's in electrical work, HVAC, cybersecurity or the trades that keep a facility running. 
• Lower local costs by investing in housing, Main Street renewal, and small businesses, so the town around a data center feels the benefit as much as the local government budget does. 
• Publicly support legislation that will provide a safety net for those impacted by the AI transition.  

On the fear of AI takeover, developers should: 

• Publish plain-language explanations of what the facility actually does and who oversees it, updated regularly, so it isn't a black box sitting in the middle of town. 
• Call on, and work with, local governments to stand up a local oversight board with real authority, not just a community liaison, that gets briefed on safety practices and can ask hard questions. 
• Publicly back the safety commitments the AI labs themselves are now calling for, so residents see the company aligned with the push for guardrails. 
• Publicly support sensible AI regulation, making clear that building the infrastructure needed to power AI should go hand-in-hand with appropriate safeguards governing how the technology is developed and used. 

Some developers are already finding some success with this type of approach. In Massena, New York, North Country Collocation Services is working to build a 1.5 million-square-foot data center that isn’t subject to the state’s current moratorium. The town board recently voted down a local moratorium measure, clearing the path for the project to advance. NCCS made clear arguments about the benefit the project will provide the community, how it will use existing and available clean energy to power it, and how it will support training to connect local residents with jobs.  

Other developers facing mounting criticism have the opportunity to change the conversation, particularly in areas like New York State where, as I recently wrote, data center moratoriums are providing the time and space to remap stakeholders, hold real listening sessions, and rework messaging around the concerns residents actually raise with concrete, tangible action. Then it’s time to build a new stakeholder and messaging camping around a new story about how a data center can improve the lives of its neighbors as developers fight for rules to ensure the rapidly advancing AI industry is safe, too.