{"slug": "blackstone-is-addressing-community-concerns-around-ai-ceo-says", "title": "Blackstone is addressing community concerns around AI, CEO says", "summary": "Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman said the firm is addressing community concerns around AI development, including workforce, environmental and local economic implications, as opposition to data center construction grows in the U.S. A June Reuters/Ipsos poll found only 14% of Americans would support a data center being built in their community. Blackstone portfolio company QTS terminated a Virginia data center project after years of planning due to strong local opposition and litigation.", "body_md": "By Isla Binnie and Arasu Kannagi Basil\n\nNEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Blackstone is working to address the societal and environmental implications of artificial intelligence development, CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Thursday, as opposition to data center construction mounts in the U.S.\n\nBlackstone and other private capital firms are pouring tens of billions of dollars into businesses and infrastructure that aim to increase compute capacity and run power-hungry models.\n\nBut the otherwise deeply divided American electorate is united across party lines when confronted by the pace of data center construction, and only 14% would support one being built in their community for technology firms, according to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll.\n\nBlackstone is working closely with portfolio companies including data-center businesses \"to address the workforce, environmental and community implications of development through the creation of union jobs, workforce training, water-free cooling systems, expanded power generation and significant local economic investment,\" Schwarzman said on a conference call.\n\nWhile the impact of AI could echo the industrial revolution, which eventually raised living standards, Schwarzman said, \"Major change of this type also creates anxiety due to the uncertainty of how the technology will evolve.\"\n\nData-center operator QTS, which Blackstone took private for $10 billion in 2021, said earlier this month that it had terminated a project in Virginia after years of planning. The project had faced strong local opposition and litigation, despite being approved by county authorities.\n\nU.S. President Donald Trump's administration sees AI development as a race against China, but is also working to shield households from an attendant rise in energy costs.\n\nSchwarzman, a longtime Trump donor, said he had personally been \"spending a lot of time with leaders in the industry and various policymakers thinking about how to address these critical issues, while also preserving the advance of America's AI leadership.\"\n\n(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Nia Williams)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/blackstone-is-addressing-community-concerns-around-ai-ceo-says", "canonical_source": "https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-addressing-community-concerns-around-171629426.html", "published_at": "2026-07-23 17:16:29+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-23 17:52:56.967226+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Blackstone", "Stephen Schwarzman", "QTS", "Reuters", "Ipsos", "Donald Trump"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/blackstone-is-addressing-community-concerns-around-ai-ceo-says", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/blackstone-is-addressing-community-concerns-around-ai-ceo-says.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/blackstone-is-addressing-community-concerns-around-ai-ceo-says.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/blackstone-is-addressing-community-concerns-around-ai-ceo-says.jsonld"}}