Big Tech CEOs are racing each other to build large AI data centers, using our communities as chips to place risky bets that pay off for them, not us.

The tech companies are swearing our elected officials to secrecy under NDAs so decisions are made behind closed doors before residents know a project is coming. They are gobbling up local tracts of land for huge warehouses that can never be repurposed, and assaulting our ears with incessant noise. They are aggressively draining our water supplies and polluting our air with emissions from coal and methane generators that wreck the climate. They’re driving up our power bills and threatening to replace our jobs with AI. And ultimately, the companies building this AI technology in our communities can’t even guarantee it’s safe.

This is a race that we didn’t sign up for.

The tech companies’ race for AI dominance is moving faster than most hardworking people can comprehend, local communities can safely plan for, or regulators can control. 

It’s time to press pause so North Carolina can set the terms of the data center buildout instead of being forced to accept a future Silicon Valley imposes on us.

We are calling on North Carolina leaders to enact an 18-month moratorium on new large data center development to buy all of us some time to weigh the real costs and benefits and put rules in place so developers can’t keep steamrolling our communities.

Add your name to the petition: Tell North Carolina leaders to pause the data center rush.