More Americans dislike data centers the more they learn about them

A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that familiarity with data centers tends to breed skepticism. Two-thirds of adults who say they have heard a lot about data centers view them as mostly bad for home energy costs, compared with 42% of those who have heard a little.

And 63% of those who know a lot say the facilities are mostly bad for the environment, versus 48% of those who have heard only a little. Pew asked 8,500 Americans about data centers; 25% said they know a lot, 50% said a little, and 25% said nothing at all. Data centers already number more than 1,200 across the United States, and the AI boom is prompting plans for many more as companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta race to develop more advanced models.

Large investments and high-level policy have followed that race. The source material notes an example of Oracle investing $500 billion over four years in AI infrastructure for OpenAI in a venture called Stargate, described as backed by the Trump administration.

United States

data centers, pew research, survey, americans, ai boom, home energy, environment, amazon, microsoft, meta