And yet…The growing revolt against AI data centers may be the most important AI story of the year, because this issue is seemingly reshaping political opinions across the US, and people who normally disagree on everything are uniting around one key thing: they hate data centers. This is based on real conversation, with real people, in real areas where this is happening. AdvertisementBasically, AI infrastructure is becoming geopolitical bargaining power. And if US moratoriums simply push that leverage toward authoritarian states, America may end up with LESS public control over AI, not more. So get ready for the first AI question every candidate has to answer after primaries: “Who pays for AI, who gets to decide where it’s built, and who gets the benefits?”