Why Most Americans Doubt They Will Benefit From AI

A growing bipartisan backlash against AI and data centers is uniting unlikely allies from Bernie Sanders to Steve Bannon as fears over AI job displacement and corporate power fuel protests, political messaging, and in extreme cases, real world violence.

While AI has so far delivered more economic growth than job losses, politicians across the left and right are capitalizing on public anxiety, and local fights over data center construction are intensifying as communities push back against the industry's physical and environmental footprint.

Silicon Valley has responded by trying to reframe the narrative around AI and employment, but with OpenAI and Anthropic nearing trillion dollar valuations, most Americans remain skeptical that they will share in the gains.

If history's Industrial Revolution is any guide, the backlash against AI is only likely to deepen, especially if the economy turns or job losses accelerate.

The backlash went to the ballot box and won almost everywhere it ran. Of 41 local measures on data centers in 10 states, all but one restricted or limited them, by margins averaging 49 points, and 56 percent of voters in NBC exit polls called data centers a major or crucial factor in their congressional vote, The Conversation reports, though political scientist Barbara Trish warns the evidence that they drove the result is limited. Investors flinched: Nvidia lost $450 billion of market value on November 5 as investors priced in tighter oversight, then rose 4 percent in early trading the next day, Al Jazeera reports. The new Congress is sworn in January 3, with oversight probes promised.