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