Can You Stop AI by Stopping Data Centers?

AI data centers are becoming a major political flashpoint as communities grapple with their impact on electricity, water, the power grid, the environment, and local development.

In this CNN International discussion, tech expert Shelly Palmer and Dr. Sarah Kreps, Director of the Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute, join Becky Anderson to examine the growing backlash against the massive data centers powering the artificial intelligence boom.

The conversation explores why opposition to AI infrastructure is increasingly crossing political lines, whether data centers have become a proxy for broader fears about artificial intelligence and job displacement, and how policymakers can balance technological growth with legitimate concerns about energy consumption, environmental impact, utility costs, and local communities.

Palmer argues that the explosive growth of data makes computing infrastructure essential: turning data into useful, actionable knowledge requires enormous amounts of processing. But building the infrastructure for AI also raises difficult questions about where electricity comes from, who pays for new power capacity, how data centers affect local resources, and what responsible development should look like.

As governments confront the rapidly growing physical footprint of AI, the debate is shifting from whether artificial intelligence will expand to how — and where — the infrastructure required to power it should be built.

Originally aired Thursday, September 3, 2026.

Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.