America’s AI election
Data-center backlash is reshaping electoral politics — and history suggests regulation always lags the technology.
Why it matters
As AI infrastructure (data centers) becomes politically polarizing, the story examines how public opposition to compute buildout is influencing policy and elections — a societal reaction to AI's physical footprint, not a technological development itself.
The key facts
8 to knowData-center opposition emerging as political issue across US states
Historical pattern: regulation of new technologies follows public backlash, not precedes it
Infrastructure politics reshaping electoral landscape
Jill Lepore historical analysis framing
Jill Lepore op-ed/analysis on data-center opposition
Opposition framed as reshaping politics
Historical precedent being invoked for technology regulation
Political and electoral dimension emerging around AI infrastructure siting
Go to the source
Financial Times Technologyft.com
Publisher excerpt: Jill Lepore on how opposition to data centres is reshaping politics — and what history tells us about regulating new technologies