Why Voters Are Turning Against Data Centers

Channel: Bloomberg Television

Uploaded:

Duration not recorded

Read a transcript preview of “Why Voters Are Turning Against Data Centers” from Bloomberg Television, uploaded on 2026-10-31.

Transcript preview

Language: English (creator captions)

[0:00] Westin: This year's midterm elections

[0:01] will be the first where AI will figure prominently.

[0:05] Everyone more or less agrees that the new technology

[0:07] could have great potential.

[0:09] But there is a wide range of concerns

[0:11] about its possible effects.

[0:13] Everything from what it could mean for employment...

[0:15] -The fear surrounding AI, you know,

[0:18] is my son or daughter going to have a job?

[0:20] I just paid all this tuition. Am I going to have a job?

[0:22] Westin: To whether it could lead to mass extinction.

[0:25] -AI is just as dangerous as drugs,

[0:27] so we should have an FDA for AI,

[0:29] so public policy needs to support

[0:32] the public good of AI alignment.

[0:35] Westin: But for this particular election,

[0:37] it seems the most pressing concern

[0:38] is over the building of all those data centers

[0:41] needed to support AI.

[0:45] -We do not want any more data centers in our county.

[0:48] -This is not a Republican issue.

[0:49] It's not a Democrat issue. It's a people issue.

[0:52] -You're seeing red states and blue states

[0:54] both look at the data center opportunity

[0:56] and quandary in the same way,

[0:57] which is it can't hurt consumers.

[1:00] -Nobody knows yet

[1:01] what it's going to mean for that community.

[1:03] They don't know what it's going to mean

[1:05] for their water.

[1:06] They don't know what it's going to mean

[1:08] in regard to noise pollution or other types of pollutants.

[1:12] Westin: Resistance to building more data centers

[1:14] has led some states to slow down AI's development.

[1:17] -We need an immediate pause on advanced AI development

[1:23] and a permanent ban on super intelligence.

[1:26] -New York issuing the first statewide morato

Sign up free to read and search the full transcript