Communities bargain over data centers and AI’s uncertain future

The brief

Jasmine Sun travels through Michigan and Wisconsin to ask why communities resist data centers, even when officials present them as rare engines of investment.

In Janesville, a vacant, contaminated former General Motors site makes a data center look like the only plausible path to cleanup—yet secrecy keeps residents from judging the deal.

The opposition draws strength from broken corporate promises, including Foxconn, and from a power imbalance that can leave small municipalities vulnerable when developers threaten lawsuits.

Supporters include local officials seeking tax revenue and union workers gaining construction jobs, but those benefits remain diffuse beside visible worries about electricity, pollution, and stranded infrastructure.

At a Lansing rally, Abdul El-Sayed connects data-center deals to corporate influence and proposes sweeping AI reforms, sharpening the question of who should control the technology’s risks.

Sun and PJ land on a cautiously democratic answer: stronger bargaining, clearer standards, and temporary moratoriums may produce better deals than either unchecked expansion or permanent bans.