At least 37 people have been arrested in the U.S. this year during protests over AI data centers, according to a recent report from Futurism.
The arrests were reported in communities across the country, where residents have challenged proposed or existing data centers over electricity demand, water use, pollution, land use, tax incentives, and government transparency.
Cases cited in Oklahoma, Indiana, and Kansas
In February, Oklahoma resident Darren Blanchard was arrested on a criminal trespass charge after exceeding a three-minute public comment limit during a hearing on a proposed data center.
In May, Indiana resident Pablo Payan was arrested after refusing to identify himself before speaking at a public meeting on a proposed Amazon data center.
In July, Kansas physics teacher Lux Claridge was arrested after continuing to clap during a zoning hearing on a proposed data center campus.
Opposition expands beyond local planning disputes
The report said the arrests came as opposition to AI infrastructure moved beyond local planning disputes and into a national political movement. According to Politico, Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson has emerged as one of the leading voices in a “New Luddite” movement that is calling for data center moratoriums, stricter oversight, and greater transparency across the country.
The term “Luddite” originally referred to members of a 19th-century English workers’ movement protesting the way new technology was being used. Today, the word is also used more broadly to describe people who oppose or distrust new technologies such as AI.
Street protests widen in July
The fight over AI data centers has also moved into public demonstrations. In July, advocacy group Humans First said it organized 142 protests across 42 states during a national day of action against AI data centers.
That same month, in a separate action, about 200 protesters organized by Stop the AI Race marched through San Francisco earlier in July between the offices of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. The group called for a pause in the development of more powerful AI models.
Debate shifts to costs and benefits of AI buildout
As technology companies race to build the computing infrastructure needed for increasingly powerful AI models, resistance is shifting from isolated “not in my backyard” disputes to a wider debate over who benefits from AI and who bears the environmental, economic, and social costs of building that infrastructure.