China Seeks to Exploit America's AI Data Center Backlash
Americans have legitimate concerns about the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers across the country, including straining electrical grids and consuming significant quantities of water. However, a recent report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute suggests that China's Communist Party is attempting to exploit these concerns to slow America's AI buildout.
No evidence suggests that Beijing created the anti-data-center movement or that ordinary citizens raising questions about new projects are agents of the CCP. In fact, a Gallup poll found that 71% of Americans somewhat or strongly oppose construction of data centers in their communities.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute report highlights three major avenues of foreign influence surrounding the American AI debate: Chinese and Russian state media, a network of US nonprofits linked to Shanghai-based businessman Neville Roy Singham, and billions of dollars in foreign charitable funding flowing into American advocacy organizations involved in anti-data-center campaigns.