A conservative group is planning nationwide protests challenging data centers set to take place later this month, as debate grows about how they are expanding in the United States.
Humans First is organizing the protests against data centers, which provide the raw computational power for the technology grid and artificial intelligence, across states ranging from California to Florida. Republicans are broadly supportive of data centers but have expressed concern about the speed of their development, who controls the technology, and the direction it is taking.
Recommended Stories
Humans First has over 50 demonstrations planned across 22 states so far. Texas, which now leads the country in data center development, will have 11 protests. The protests will take place on July 18.
What is Humans First?
Amy Kremer, who leads Humans First, is a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump and a former Tea Party member. Before leading Humans First, Kremer had a background with the Republican National Committee and was a Women for Trump and Women for America First co-founder.
The group describes itself as “a conservative social movement that is dedicated to ensuring that the future of AI is in the hands of everyday people.”
“A better future with this technology is possible,” Humans First says on its website. “One where AI helps people earn a living, not eliminates their livelihood. Where it supports our children, not shapes them. Where it protects our liberty, not undermines it.
“But that future won’t be handed to us,” the site continues. “Why should a handful of unelected tech elites in Silicon Valley decide the fate of our nation? Everyday Americans deserve a say in how this technology develops.”
Kremer worries that the accelerated pace of data center expansion has left locals in the dust and at the mercy of politicians and corporate interests.
She told Business Insider last week that she blames the federal government, but not Trump, for how data center expansion is taking place. But she called on the president to place tighter guardrails on the technology after Humans First sent him a letter asking the White House to mandate an executive review of the most powerful AI models before they’re released.
“It’s Congress’s responsibility, and they need to get their act together and listen to and protect the American people,” Kremer said. “President Trump’s executive orders, and his most recent executive order on testing frontier AI systems, need to go further.”
What policies does Humans First advocate?
Humans First does not advocate a nationwide or even statewide moratorium on data centers, as some critics do. Rather, it has pushed for more transparency in development, particularly at the local level, as the group believes “each community should have a choice in what they put in their community.”
“That’s not happening in a lot of places. It’s being done behind closed doors,” Kremer said. She argued that Americans are fed up, pointing to a Gallup poll published in May showing that over 70% of citizens don’t want a data center in their backyard.
Some of Human First’s concerns lie in fears that the leaders of AI, which data centers support, envision a future in which humans take a back seat. The organization wants communities to have more clarity about which technologies are being harvested and for what purpose. The protests on July 18 are also intended to pressure officials to protect communities from rising utility costs, water demand, noise, land-use changes, and national security risks, which the group says could be tied to rapid AI expansion.
WILL AI DESTROY OR ENHANCE HEALTHCARE? MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS WEIGH IN
“These companies are building AI systems to replace us, and they say so openly,” Kremer said during an interview with Newsweek published Wednesday, adding that tech companies “are racing toward superintelligence while admitting they do not know how to control what they are building.”
Despite its concerns, Humans First is not calling for a stop to all AI use, recognizing it as a necessary element of innovation. The technology can be “a tremendous benefit to the American people if it is built the right way, with an America First approach rather than a Big Tech first approach,” Kremer said.
