{"slug": "clearly-people-hate-data-centers-sam-altman-admits-americans-hate-what-hes-as", "title": "‘Clearly, people hate data centers’: Sam Altman admits Americans hate what he’s wrought as his own data centers head quits", "summary": "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted in a Time interview that 'Clearly, people hate data centers—right now, at least,' as public backlash grows against the facilities powering the AI boom, with 70% of Americans opposing data centers in their area according to a Gallup poll. The admission comes as OpenAI plans to spend $50 billion this year on compute and as its head of data centers, Chris Malone, left the company, with at least 48 data center projects representing $156 billion in investment blocked or stalled by local resistance.", "body_md": "OpenAI’s infrastructure ambitions are colliding with a less technical problem: public backlash.\n\nCEO Sam Altman is conceding that Americans are openly hostile to the facilities powering the AI boom, awkward timing for a company both planning to spend $50 billion this year on compute. “Clearly, people hate data centers—right now, at least,” Altman [told Time](https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/openai-sam-altman-interview/) in an interview. “People are pretty negative on AI.”\n\nThe week before Altman sat for Time, OpenAI’s head of data centers Chris Malone [left the company](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openais-head-of-data-centers-has-left-company-6d24fd83), the Wall Street Journal reported, as confirmed by [CNBC, which obtained](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/openais-head-of-data-centers-chris-malone-is-out-in-latest-exec-exit.html) a statement from OpenAI saying that he had “recently reorganized” the infrastructure team.\n\nOpenAI spent the past year dramatically expanding [Stargate](https://fortune.com/2025/01/22/what-is-the-stargate-ai-project-trump-ellison-son-altman/), the infrastructure project it launched with [SoftBank](https://fortune.com/company/softbank-group/) early last year with plans to invest as much as $500 billion in the U.S. AI infrastructure. By September 2025, OpenAI had announced six [U.S. Stargate sites](https://fortune.com/2025/09/23/openai-oracle-and-softbank-expand-stargate-with-five-new-ai-data-centers-staging-texas-media-spectacle-to-counter-critics/), and said those facilities—along with its Abilene flagship and ongoing CoreWeave projects—would bring Stargate to nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity. It has since added a more-than-1-GW [Michigan campus](https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/ai-data-center-michigan-saline-politics-farmland/), a [Georgia project](https://fortune.com/2026/07/26/georgia-power-utility-company-eminent-domain-grid-expansion-data-center/) contracted for 3.2 GW of power, and, this month, an agreement to secure approximately 8 GW of IT capacity in [southern Ohio](https://openai.com/index/openai-joins-ports-pike-project/).\n\nOpenAI said it is already planning [beyond Stargate’s original 10-gigawatt target](https://openai.com/index/stargate-community/), and claims it still does not have enough computing power.\n\n“If anything, we should have bought a lot more,” Sachin Katti, the OpenAI executive overseeing its compute efforts, told *Time.*\n\n**Americans increasingly don’t want data centers next door**\n\nAltman’s assessment of the public mood isn’t far off.\n\nSeven in 10 Americans oppose building data centers in their area, according to [a Gallup poll](https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx) released in May, including 48% who strongly oppose one. Data centers can consume enormous amounts of electricity, and residents in communities targeted for development [worry about higher power bills](https://fortune.com/2026/07/24/why-youre-paying-for-data-center-electricity-power/), water usage, noise and the strain on local infrastructure. Some estimates [peg the electricity cost of data centers to $23 billion](https://fortune.com/2026/07/14/data-centers-23-billion-electricity-bills/).\n\nThe opposition is already having financial consequences for hyperscalers. At least [48 data center projects representing $156 billion in investment ](https://fortune.com/2026/05/18/communities-are-blocking-billions-in-data-centers-big-tech-has-wagered-1-trillion-otherwise/)were blocked or stalled by local resistance. Even though only 8% of Americans who oppose data centers live near one, the [outrage has gone national](https://fortune.com/2026/06/22/data-center-opposition-goes-national-despite-only-8-percent-living-near-one/).\n\nA [Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/12/how-americans-view-data-centers-impact-in-key-areas-from-the-environment-to-jobs/) released earlier this year found Americans were much more likely to say data centers were bad than good for home energy costs, the environment and nearby quality of life. Among people who said they had heard a lot about data centers, 67% said they believed the facilities were mostly bad for household energy costs.\n\nThose concerns are colliding with a surge in electricity demand. U.S. power consumption grew about 1.7% a year from 2020 through 2025 after barely growing over the previous 15 years, [according to the Energy Information Administration](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67344&). The agency said data centers are helping drive the increase.\n\n**The backlash is starting to shape policy–and the midterms**\n\nState governments are now responding to frustrated constituents with potential ramifications for OpenAI and other hyperscalers. Local officials [proposed more than 120 moratoriums on data ](https://fortune.com/2026/06/22/data-center-opposition-goes-national-despite-only-8-percent-living-near-one/)center development in 38 states as of July.\n\nTexas Gov. Greg Abbott [ordered regulators](https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-directs-comprehensive-data-center-audit) to scrutinize data centers seeking to connect to the state’s power grid before allowing projects to move forward earlier this month. ERCOT, which manages most of the Texas grid, was facing roughly 474 gigawatts of requests for new connections—[more than five times the state’s record peak](https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-directs-comprehensive-data-center-audit) electricity demand. That matters for OpenAI because Texas is central to Stargate, with its flagship site in Abilene, and additional pending projects in the state.\n\nPennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took his own steps on Aug. 18, signing [an executive order](https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2026-press-releases/governor-shapiro-signs-executive-order-on-data-center-development) that imposed new energy-affordability, environmental and community requirements on data centers and removed AI data centers from a fast-track permitting program.\n\nData center backlash is also [uniting people from across the political spectrum](https://fortune.com/2026/08/26/data-centers-democrats-republicans-unify/) ahead of the midterm elections. While President Donald Trump champions them, most registered voters oppose data centers, including 60% of Republicans and 53% of MAGA, according to a [Fox News poll](https://fortune.com/2026/08/26/data-centers-democrats-republicans-unify/).\n\n*breaks the traditional barrier between audience and newsroom. The show transforms*\n\n**Fortune Daily*** Fortune*’s trusted reporting into actionable, conversational, and entertaining insights for an emerging class of business leaders.\n\n**Watch here.**", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/clearly-people-hate-data-centers-sam-altman-admits-americans-hate-what-hes-as", "canonical_source": "https://fortune.com/2026/08/27/sam-altman-openai-data-center-backlash/", "published_at": "2026-08-27 17:27:23+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-27 18:22:18.545369+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "Sam Altman", "Chris Malone", "Gallup", "Pew Research Center", "Time", "Stargate", "SoftBank"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/clearly-people-hate-data-centers-sam-altman-admits-americans-hate-what-hes-as", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/clearly-people-hate-data-centers-sam-altman-admits-americans-hate-what-hes-as.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/clearly-people-hate-data-centers-sam-altman-admits-americans-hate-what-hes-as.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/clearly-people-hate-data-centers-sam-altman-admits-americans-hate-what-hes-as.jsonld"}}