Overview
- Maine lawmakers passed what would be the first statewide ban on new data centers, sending the bill to the governor and signaling a new front in local pushback.
- San Francisco prosecutors say a man threw a lit Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home gate and charged him with attempted murder, calling the attack motivated by hatred of AI.
- Polling from NBC News, Quinnipiac, and Pew shows most Americans now say AI’s risks outweigh its benefits, making the technology a growing campaign issue.
- Tech giants have committed roughly $700 billion this year to build AI data centers, even as Data Center Watch counted at least $156 billion in projects blocked or delayed in 2025 by lawsuits and community fights.
- The International Energy Agency projects data center electricity use will nearly quadruple this decade, a surge that fuels concerns about grid strain and environmental costs.