Trump takes the risk on data centers

The Hill · C · trust 56/100

Link copied by Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro - 09/03/26 5:20 PM ET Link copied NOW PLAYING Close Thank you for signing up! President Trump and the AI industry are going on the offensive, attempting to bolster support for data centers as they contend with a groundswell of public opposition that has swept across party lines. © Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press Trump has not shied away from embracing the controversial server warehouses behind the AI boom, but he appeared to take a no-holds-barred approach Monday as he called for the U.S. to “ let Data Reign ” and accused the opposition of wanting to be “ backwards and poor .” The AI advocacy group Build American AI also launched a multimillion-dollar campaign Monday aimed at building support for “commonsense” data center policies, while a group of data center developers unveiled their own nonprofit Wednesday seeking to highlight benefits from the AI infrastructure. The latest push comes as the data center build-out has increasingly become politically “toxic,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP strategist and head of the advocacy group Alliance for Secure AI. “The AI industry is losing and has been [losing] on this issue pretty much all year,” he told The Hill, adding, “The American people are skeptical of AI, skeptical of Big Tech, and the companies are trying to reverse that trend, and it’s going to be very difficult.” Trump finds himself “ caught between this massive movement by his base that is skeptical of data centers and AI and the moneyed interests in Big Tech that are funding a lot of candidates and funding the party and even White House projects,” Steinhauser said. The president has long embraced the AI build-out, keeping up the drumbeat for data centers even as public opinion soured and other GOP politicians tried to distance themselves from such projects. Read more in a full report at TheHill.com Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter , we’re Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. OpenAI began rolling out its latest AI model, GPT-6 Astra, to a limited group of organizations Thursday, after declaring earlier this week it was the first model to cross the company’s threshold for heightened cyber capabilities. The ChatGPT maker said the model will become available to more paid users in the coming days. “GPT‑6 Astra brings together years of research and big bets across pre-training, reinforcement learning, ... Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) unveiled a bill Thursday aimed at restricting the use of federal funds for automated license plate reader cameras (ALPRs) and biometric surveillance cameras. The Flock-Off Act would block any attempt to purchase, install, maintain, operate or upgrade ALPRs and biometric surveillance cameras for municipalities and local law enforcement. Despite being in the name of the act, Flock — a prominent ALPR ... (NEXSTAR) – The FBI’s New Orleans field office says it is investigating after a report surfaced that millions of driver’s licenses belonging to U.S. and Canadian residents may have appeared on the dark web. Earlier this week, Brian Krebs, an independent journalist, reported that he had found a dark web site selling the digital scans of more than 153 million driver’s licenses. He described finding the records of ... Microsoft is throwing its support behind legislation that would prevent data centers from passing along water usage costs to consumers, as tech companies seek to allay community concerns about the AI infrastructure. The Water Cost Accountability Act would direct states to block public water systems from recovering costs associated with connecting data centers from anyone other than their developers or owners. “This legislation ... Sanders, Casar call for artificial superintelligence ban amid rogue AI hackings Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) are calling for a permanent ban on the development and deployment of artificial superintelligence, citing a series of recent hackings involving “rogue” models. The bicameral duo announced Thursday they will introduce the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would institute the permanent ban, along with temporarily pausing “advanced AI development” ... You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!

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