As hyperscalers race toward artificial general intelligence, they are leaving a trail of anger and protest in their wake. State by state, many organizations, city and county councils, and local elected officials are drawing on a range of tools to launch a powerful opposition against the data centers that hyperscalers are building to support the AI race.
Currently, media coverage and local politics have fueled a discourse that frames AI infrastructure through a reductionist We the People vs. Big Tech binary. We believe that more balanced knowledge dissemination on the economics, politics and social impact of data centers will deescalate this discourse. AI infrastructure is going to be built, whether we like it or not. By coordinating signals between hyperscalers and concerned citizens, we can guide data centers to where they will be most symbiotic with local interests.
LocalQ Labs is a research group run by Julia Chuang, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Maryland. We seek to understand effective pathways communities can take to effectively regulate data centers. We also collaborate with community and industry groups to advocate for sustainability solutions associated with AI energy demand.