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Stanford Professor Has Some Advice for AI Leaders Building Data Centers ...
Data centers have become a serious issue for many Americans. UCG/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images 2026-05-08T09:09:01.236Z The AI industry needs to build data centers to power its products, but is facing resistance. Stanford University's Anjney Midha said Americans want more transparency about data centers. Midha said tech leaders should be more empathetic and listen more to community concerns. A prominent professor of AI has some advice for Elon Musk and other AI leaders struggling to sell Americans on data centers: Try empathy. Anjney Midha, a Stanford University professor teaching a viral AI infrastructure course, said that part of the reason local communities are organizing to prevent new data centers is the lack of transparency around their impacts and intended use.He said these communities will cause major problems if tech leaders don't come across as "empathetic" and listen to them."These are human beings," Midha said on Alex Heath's "Access" podcast on Thursday. "I can tell you communities around America are not happy."Data centers have become a major issue for many Americans. While tech companies — like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google — need data centers to power their AI products, many everyday Americans say the benefits don't outweigh the drawbacks. Rising utility costs are one major concern. A new report this week from the Pew Research Center said 43% of survey respondents believed data center energy use had driven up their bills. Environmental damage, increased noise, and an overall drop in quality of life are also points of contention.Some legislators have also taken aim at data centers, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who proposed a federal moratorium on new data center development. Some states, including Maine, are also considering moratoriums."My view is that if it's not legible to the public that these data centers and the infrastructure required to unblock this kind of frontier technology progress are serving their benefit, then it's not going to work out," Midha said.He said the discourse around data centers has split into two camps: those who want to accelerate construction and those who want to halt AI development altogether. Neither, he said, is the optimal viewpoint."Let's scale infrastructure optimally while making sure we listen to the concerns that are substantive of local communities," Midha said.Midha said that companies being transparent with commu...
AI Boom Sparks Community Opposition to Data Centres
Data Centres Transform Neighborhoods Amid AI Boom The AI boom is reshaping urban landscapes in ways few anticipated, as data centres proliferate in densely populated areas across Japan and Australia. What began as a digital infrastructure necessity has evolved into a flashpoint for community opposition, with residents arguing that massive data centre construction is incompatible with residential life 1122. In Tokyo's commuter town of Inzai, Munekazu and Erin Tanikawa discovered their ¥50 million apartment had lost approximately 25% of its value after a 52-meter-tall data centre was approved for construction on the parking lot facing their balcony. The facility, backed by Canadian pension fund CPP Investments, US asset manager Fidelity, and Mitsui & Co, will store 1.2 million tonnes of fuel for backup generators. The couple has gathered over 13,000 signatures opposing the project and launched legal action, highlighting growing tensions between developers and residents 11. Source: FT Urban Planning and Zoning Issues Expose Regulatory Gaps Japan's $23 billion data centre market is projected to grow nearly 50% by 2030, with 90% of facilities concentrated in the Greater Tokyo and Osaka regions. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has positioned AI at the center of her economic growth strategy, accelerating what lawyer Satoshi Oikawa calls "the AI gold rush" 11. The conflict between developers and residents stems partly from outdated building codes that classify data centres as offices rather than factories or warehouses. Kyoto University professor Tetsuharu Oba notes that Japan's urban planning and land use systems "were never designed to anticipate recent uses like data centres." Even NTT Data, Japan's largest data centre operator, acknowledged that "the rapid scaling and increasing sophistication of modern data centres have made it harder to view them as equivalent to conventional office buildings" 11. Environmental and Noise Concerns Dominate Australian Protests In Melbourne's West Footscray, Sean Brown walks his 19-month-old son past NextDC's M3 facility, described as "Australia's largest hyperscale AI factory." The data centre, less than 10 kilometers from the Melbourne CBD, is expanding to cover 10 hectares and draw 225MW of power consumption by the end of 2027. Diesel generators on site are reportedly increasing from 40 to 100 units 22. Brown describes the impact on quality of life: constant construction noise, looming towers, persistent background hu...
Stokes County proposed data center creates backlash
A proposed rezoning request for a new AI data center in Stokes County received a lot of community backlash The project, known as Project Delta, is being developed by Drew Nations of Engineered Land Solutions Residents of the community are concerned about environmental impacts, health issues and destroying land that holds history of indigenous ...
Anthropic strikes SpaceX data center deal as it plows ahead on AI
... us from GPT-1 to GPT-5 Pro. But in order to crack physics, we'll need a different approach. In this episode, a16z General Partner Anjney Midha talks to Liam ...
