The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are very busy winning Democratic primaries, but they still have the bandwidth to organize a national campaign this summer against AI and data centers under the “Ecosocialism Transition Committee.”
The DSA’s official anti-data center crusade comes on the heels of prominent members who have made it crystal clear that they yearn to halt America’s artificial intelligence research and development by imposing an “AI Data Center Moratorium.”
Under the guise of “a reasonable pause to the development of AI to ensure the safety of humanity,” the bill was introduced in March by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). It is almost universally championed by democratic socialists and most mainstream Democrats and claims it will save “hundreds of millions of jobs” and ensure that AI will not “destroy the planet.”
“The time for action is now. We need a federal moratorium on AI data centers,” Sanders said.
Staying true to his socialist druthers, he added, “We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity.”
AOC alleges that data centers “inflate electric bills in communities across the country” and “pose an existential harm” to “society.”
The “existential harm to society” card has been overplayed by the left. They really should refrain from using it because it undercuts their credibility.
We were told global warming was an existential crisis in the 1990s. Before that, global cooling was an existential crisis in the 1970s.
We’ve been told for decades that we are running out of oil. We’ve also been warned by environmental lunatics like Paul Ehrlich that humanity will soon exhaust all of earth’s resources and should pursue depopulation and degrowth strategies.
None of these dire predictions came true.
First, the climate always has and always will shift. Such is why they have jumped on the term “climate change” most recently.
Second, technological innovation is the reason we still have so many resources at our disposal. For instance, fracking has made energy extraction far more efficient and cost-effective. State-of-the-art developments in agriculture have increased yields and reduced prices.
Third, most of the so-called “existential harm” that AOC is alluding to comes in two forms.
One, that the sheer advancement of AI will eliminate jobs and only benefit tech oligarchs.
This is blatantly ignorant given that every other technological revolution, including the advent of the internet a few decades ago, has created abundant amounts of new jobs, fields, occupations, etc.
Moreover, AI is enhancing efficiency across the economy. Higher efficiency increases production of goods and services, making it an overall benefit to all consumers.
Second, AOC wants you to believe that data centers are awful for the environment because they demand ginormous amounts of water. Perhaps they did, years ago. But apparently unbeknown to AOC, innovations like closed loop cooling systems do indeed exist.
To learn more truth about data centers and water consumption, I highly recommend this document from The Florida Water & Pollution Control Operators Association.
Lastly, AOC, the DSA, Bernie, and so many others peddle the lie that data centers drive up electricity rates.
Again, this may have been a valid argument years ago. But nearly all new data centers provide their own power generation, independent of the public grid. Specifically, 92 percent of new data centers developed since 2025 have opted “to build their own power plants and avoid the grid.”
What’s more, it is beyond hypocritical for “democratic” socialists and Democrats in general to utter one complaint about rising energy costs.
Never forget, these are the same people who want to impose the Green New Deal (GND), which would end fossil fuels, mandate electric vehicles, and create energy shortages, rationing, and sky-high prices.
It also bears noting that the GND would wreak widespread environmental destruction given that solar fields, wind farms, and the transmission lines needed to connect them to faraway customers bestows death to countless animals and clear-cutting of untouched lands.
Regardless of the facts, most Americans are skeptical of data centers and oppose construction of new ones in or near their communities.
I hope as time goes on, the truth gets out because if the democratic socialists succeed in stifling American AI development, you better believe the Chinese Communist Party is more than willing to fill the void. I hope China does not win the AI arms race. I hope Americans come to their senses.
Chris Talgo is the Editorial Director for The Heartland Institute and a fellow for Heartland’s Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center.
