Voters in ten US states considered 41 measures restricting AI data centres in the midterms and passed 40 of them

Voters in ten US states considered 41 measures restricting AI data centres in the midterms and passed 40 of them, with water consumption and per-site disclosure at the centre of the objections; one researcher’s estimate puts a 1GW facility at roughly 10 million gallons of water a day. OpenAI responded on 5 November with a National Community Compact pledging to cover the full power and infrastructure cost of its own facilities, drop non-disclosure agreements with officials and fund community programmes, naming $80 million in Effingham County, Georgia and $6 million in Pike County, Ohio. One analysis put up to 45% of planned capacity at risk from local opposition.