The Data Center Backlash
Seven in Ten Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area, Gallup Finds. A new Gallup poll shows 48% of Americans are “strongly opposed” to data center construction nearby, with another 23% “somewhat opposed.” This is the kind of primary-source data point that will shape political messaging through the 2026 election cycle.
$64 Billion in Data Center Projects Blocked or Delayed by Community Opposition. An investigative roundup documents that activist groups have stalled an estimated $64 billion in U.S. data center projects over the past two years, with at least 142 opposition groups now operating across 24 states.
The Race to Build AI Data Centers Before Communities Can Push Back. A long-form interview with Food & Water Watch’s policy director examines how local fights over water, energy, and zoning are becoming a national political issue, and how the “national security vs. China” framing is being used to sideline local concerns.
How Anti-Data Center Activists Are Taking on Big Tech and Winning. More than 70 data center rejections or restrictions have been recorded in just the first four months of 2026, already surpassing the full-year total for 2025. The piece also covers accusations that the movement is receiving foreign funding.
Polls and Protests Signal a Turning Point on AI Infrastructure. U.S. News situates the Utah Stratos fight and similar local battles within a broader national shift in public opinion on AI infrastructure development.
Economics & Employment
A Reality Check on the AI Jobs Hysteria. MIT Technology Review digs into BLS and Census data and finds no large-scale labor market disruption yet. But there is a real warning sign: entry-level jobs for workers aged 22-25 in software and customer service have dropped roughly 16% since 2024.
AI Job Cuts Are Rising, but the Bigger Story Is Reduced Hiring. Companies have announced nearly 50,000 AI-linked job cuts this year, about 17% of all announced layoffs. Experts say the main channel of displacement is not firings but the quiet disappearance of junior roles that are easier to automate.
IPPR Report: Workers Need More Bargaining Power Over AI Adoption. A new report backed by the UK’s Trades Union Congress finds that while 20% of workers say AI improves their working lives, 21% say it has made things worse. The report calls for stronger worker input on how AI gets deployed in the workplace.
California’s First-of-Its-Kind Executive Order on AI Workforce Displacement. Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-6-26 directs state agencies to study AI’s labor market impacts, modernize worker protections, and explore “universal basic capital” concepts. A legal analysis from A&O Shearman breaks down what it means in practice.
Tech Companies Are Starting to Question the ROI of Massive AI Spending. Despite tying employee evaluations to AI usage and boasting about AI-written code, some Silicon Valley executives are growing skeptical about whether multi-billion-dollar AI investments are actually paying off.
Census Bureau Data: AI Adoption Stuck Between 17% and 20% Across U.S. Businesses. Updated data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey shows large firms (250+ employees) adopt AI at 37%, while smaller businesses lag far behind. The gap raises questions about whether AI’s productivity gains will concentrate among incumbents.
Ethics & Safety
FTC Begins Enforcing the Take It Down Act on AI-Generated Intimate Imagery. Platforms now face concrete obligations to remove nonconsensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes, within 48 hours of a valid request. This marks a shift from abstract deepfake concern to active U.S. enforcement.
OpenAI Publishes Its Frontier Governance Framework. OpenAI released a governance document mapping its safety practices onto emerging legal obligations like California’s Transparency in Frontier AI Act and the EU AI Act’s GPAI code. It covers cyber misuse, CBRN risk, manipulation, and loss-of-control scenarios.
The Blind Spot in AI Safety. Tech Policy Press critiques a recent Anthropic paper that frames frontier AI failures as unpredictable accidents rather than coherent goal misalignment. The article highlights a measurement flaw: current benchmarks miss cases where models quietly diverge from reality in ways that matter for healthcare, finance, and other regulated domains.
Pope Calls for Robust Regulation of AI in New Manifesto. Pope Leo XIV argues AI should be governed for the common good rather than profit, tying the technology to concerns about work, war, and human dignity. The intervention signals that AI governance has moved well beyond tech policy circles.
China Releases Comprehensive AI Ethics Guidelines. China’s National Cybersecurity Standardization Technical Committee published lifecycle-wide ethical guidelines establishing nine core principles and mandating human intervention in high-risk AI scenarios. The IAPP provides an English-language analysis.
Policy & Regulation
CNN Sues Perplexity Over Alleged AI Copyright Theft. CNN filed suit accusing Perplexity of unlawfully copying and distributing its content. It is believed to be the first AI copyright action by a major television network, adding a new front to the publisher-vs-AI legal battle.
EU AI Act Omnibus: Postponed Deadlines and a New Ban on AI-Generated Intimate Imagery. A provisional agreement pushes back compliance deadlines for high-risk AI systems to late 2027 and 2028, while introducing a new prohibition on nonconsensual AI-generated intimate images. Gibson Dunn’s client alert breaks down the key changes.
Colorado Replaces Its Landmark AI Act with a Narrower Transparency Framework. Governor Polis signed SB 26-189, swapping the state’s broad 2024 AI Act for a more focused notice-and-transparency regime covering automated decision-making. The new law requires consumer notifications and human review but voids contract clauses that shift liability for discriminatory AI use.
Connecticut Passes Comprehensive AI Employment Regulation. Senate Bill 5 amends state anti-discrimination statutes to clarify that using AI is not a defense to discrimination claims. It adds to a growing and increasingly inconsistent patchwork of state-level AI rules.
Plaintiffs Are Using Existing Privacy and Consumer Laws to Sue AI Companies. Over 700 U.S. generative AI lawsuits have been filed by early 2025, a tenfold increase. ZwillGen analyzes how litigants are repurposing pre-existing copyright, privacy, and unfair-practices statutes rather than waiting for new AI-specific legislation.
Europe’s Copyright Approach May Be Creating a Data Scarcity Problem. CEPA argues that restrictive text-and-data-mining rules under the EU Copyright Directive are widening the investment gap with global competitors. The author suggests labor displacement should be addressed through workforce policy, not copyright restrictions that slow AI development.
Last Updated: 2026-05-29 07:34 (California Time)