My the "Times" has fallen. This op-ed writer totally missed the forest for the trees.

Not six months or so ago we had multiple different AI CEO's, and other big company CEO's, publicly exclaiming how many jobs AI was going to replace in short order. What did they expect when they told the masses (i.e., the voters) that a majority of them were going to be unemployed soon because of AI? This is simply the folks they told they were going to lay off fighting back to prevent those layoffs from happening.

Couple that with the electricity bill price increases because of the load from the AI data centers and you have a perfect storm that crosses party lines and aligns the vast majority squarely in the "opposed to AI" camp.

https://archive.is/EHJrZ

Local government’s arrogance and inability to thoughtfully address concerns from the people they represent definitely fuels some of the hate. When you watch some of the hearings it seems like friction was inevitable.

It is because the data center build out is building homes for agents rather than for humans.

Just ask Zuckerberg about why he REALLY wants to replace 50% of his staff with AI just like Elon has done.