Willie Nelson Gets It—This Time About Data Centers

“The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”

By Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation

Donald Trump is a big fan of the data centers powering the AI industry’s boom: “Everything’s good around them,” he recently told Fox News. Figures as diverse as Willie Nelson, Pope Leo, and Erin Brockovich might beg to differ, however—and all three have warned of the energy-guzzling behemoths’ environmental hazards in recent months.

They’re far from alone in sounding the alarm, and the president’s position is, in fact, increasingly unpopular: Seven Americans in 10 now believe that everything is not good around data centers, and say they’d oppose the construction of the computing hubs in their communities.

American anxiety about artificial intelligence has been rising for years. But until now, there have been limited outlets to channel that anxiety into action. With tech giants racing to build AI server campuses quickly and with limited oversight, Americans now have a (literally) concrete target for their protests.

In an Instagram post striking out against the dozens of data centers slated for construction in his native Central Texas, Nelson summed up the national mood: “The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”