Tech CEOs want the world to embrace AI, but protestors outside their G20 gathering show the industry’s growing popularity problem
Fortune 8
Tech executives including OpenAI’s Sam Altman urged more AI infrastructure inside a G20 event in Chapel Hill, N.C., while hundreds of protesters outside criticized AI and the data center expansion tied to it. Protesters cite data center impacts such as pollution and jobs, and activists staged 142 demonstrations across 42 states in July. As a result, data centers are becoming a major reputational and political flashpoint, with growing local moratoriums or zoning limits and continued public opposition to new sites.