The AI Backlash Has Reached a Tipping Point

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Illinois just approved a data center the size of 600 football fields. It will consume more than half the amount of electricity as the entire city of Chicago. But the silver lining to this is that hundreds of community members came out to say no against this proposal. But unfortunately, the city just didn't give a and approved it anyway. Remember, these are the same people that tell you to take short hours. In Indianapolis, a Democratic city councelor had 13 shots fired at his doorstep with a note that read, "No data centers." This comes after months of residents voicing their concern, saying they don't want a data center built in their city. And yet, their representatives aren't listening.

[00:00:42]They're moving ahead with development.

[00:00:44]The data center is being built by a company called MetroBlocks. Let's look at their website. They proudly state, "Indianapolis is emerging as a cost-effective Midwest data center hub driven by industry-leading tax incentives and competitive power pricing. Industry-leading tax incentives translates to they pay little to no taxes." They then go on to boast about this 138 kW substation that will be located right next to where they build the data center. It's energy they can directly tap into. The data center will span 14 acres. But notice this location.

[00:01:20]This is what sets MetroLocks apart from other data center developers. They develop in metro areas in the heart of cities. Every single point on their website is exactly why people are furious. Our representatives, the people we vote for to represent our best interests, are giving away our water, our energy, and our taxes to the people who need it the least. This is the farmland that you're driving through until you come to the AI data center.

[00:01:49]You can start to see the lights from back here.

[00:01:54]I knew they were starting this, but I didn't know it was this impactful. Look at all the semi trucks. All the cement trucks you'll drive by. And it just keeps going and going, continues on for more and more. This meta AI data center that they are putting in here that's taking up all this beautiful farmland that we will never be able to replace.

[00:02:16]It's only going to employ one to 500 people. So all this for about the same amount of jobs as my local Walmart. And there it stops. Finally, >> just days after Indianapolis approved this Metroblocks data center, yet another one was approved in Liberty, Missouri. And again, residents pushed back, but it didn't change the outcome.

[00:02:41]Let's look at the numbers. The data center cost 1.4 billion to build.

[00:02:46]Missouri Governor Mike Kho proudly announced it will bring 30, just 30 highquality jobs. In exchange, Missouri gives up 200 million in tax revenue.

[00:02:59]Metrolocks has agreed to pay roughly $49 million back to things like schools and fire stations over this 25 years.

[00:03:07]Missouri is giving up over $200 million in taxes to get back just $49 million.

[00:03:14]The math isn't mathing. The governor is betting that this facility will generate even more in taxes after this 25-year period, but nobody knows where AI is going. I mean, in the next 3 years, that building could be completely empty because AI was oversold and underutilized.

[00:03:33]>> I think that we all collectively should just stop paying our electric bill because this is getting out of hand.

[00:03:38]There has to be something that we collectively can do. $814 for one month of electric. This is ridiculous. How do they expect people to be able to keep their lights on when the bill is half of my mortgage? People are literally paying thousands of dollars a month now for their electricity bills because these AI data centers are moving in and taking all of the electricity.

[00:04:00]What makes this even worse is that in the US, public schools are funded through property taxes. The majority of these thousands of data centers do not pay property taxes. So the very place that children go to learn how to think critically, research and ask questions, those schools are being defunded to subsidize billion-dollar corporations.

[00:04:23]But ask yourself, why would our representatives want a dumb population?

[00:04:28]Why would they want people that don't know how to ask questions?

[00:04:32]>> These corporations have taken everything. They've raised the prices on things. They've priced us out of our own lives. It's so bad to the point where you have to make your choice. either you pay your bills or you buy food. People that are a part of the system, that get up every day, that go to work, that pay their taxes, that do what they're supposed to do, that don't break the law, that work hard. We do all that. We work that hard and we don't have enough money to even live. Everything is owned by Black Rockck and State Street, all that. It's owned by every it's owned by billionaires. The American dream is 100% dead. People are angry, but more importantly, people are reaching a point where they feel they have nothing left to lose. So, they're acting on that rage. Sam Alman was targeted twice in the same weekend. A 20-year-old went to Altman's San Francisco home and threw a Molotov cocktail at it. He then went to OpenAI's headquarters, threw a chair at the glass doors, and threatened to burn the building down. When police found him, they also found a document describing the risks AI poses. It was titled, "Some words on the matter of our impending extinction." There were also names and addresses of other AI executives, board members, and investors. Less than 48 hours later, two more people were arrested after shots were fired outside Altman's home. Sam Alman responds to this incident on his blog. He opens it with a photo of his child and husband, a clear attempt to humanize himself. He then goes on to claim, "Working towards prosperity for everyone, empowering all people, and advancing science and technology are moral obligations for me." This from a man whose company just closed their latest funding round, valuing Open AI at $852 billion. Extreme wealth concentrated among a very small group of investors. And let's not forget, Open AI is not profitable. They're burning through billions, yet all of a sudden they're worth 852 billion. Analysts have been warning for months about circular deals. Nvidia invests in Open AI. Open AI uses that money to buy Nvidia chips.

[00:06:39]They both claim they made money.

[00:06:41]Remember, when the AI bubble bursts, Sam Alman will be fine. He's a billionaire.

[00:06:46]But for regular people, we will suffer the consequences of his actions. Yet his moral obligation is prosperity for everyone. He then compares the desire to control AGI to Sauron's ring from Lord of the Rings. This all-consuming power that makes people do crazy things. And his solution, he says, is that AI must be democratized, that no one should hold the ring. Can we please cut the Open AI's most powerful models are locked behind a subscription. Open AI is majority backed by Microsoft, Amazon, and Soft Bank. He claims AI needs regulation while spending $3 million on lobbyists in 2025 alone to make sure meaningful regulation doesn't happen. There is nothing Democratic about any of this. And then he closes it with, we should deescalate the rhetoric.

[00:07:40]The call is coming from inside the House. He just spent this entire post comparing his technology to the most evil artifact in literary history. I genuinely believe he is so narcissistic that as he was writing this, he kept thinking, "This is what I get for building abundance for them." He completely misses the point. This is part of something much bigger. We're seeing the names of executives, politicians, world leaders, and the files with zero accountability. But notice when the billionaires need the police, all of a sudden there's accountability. In fact, FBI director Cash Patel already conducted an operation at the suspect's home. This guy in the Altman attack was arrested, hooked, and charged within days. Because he's Sam Alman, all of a sudden, the system is functioning as it should. If you're not going to pay us enough to live or afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this.

[00:08:41]>> Arson investigators say this video posted to social media is part of their investigation into the warehouse fire early Tuesday morning in Ontario. It appears to show cases of toilet paper being set on fire while a person repeatedly claims he isn't paid enough to live on. The problem is our politicians have spent years dividing us and now they're living it up with their billionaire donors while we argue amongst ourselves. This isn't left versus right. This is regular people versus people who decided that the rules don't apply to them.

[00:09:16]>> And my company that I work for, their bread and butter is going to become data centers. The next project they want to send me to is a massive data center.

[00:09:24]Maybe 3 years ago would have been completely fine with that. even a year ago. But the more that I look into the impact that these data centers are going to have, not only on the people around there and the energy bill costs, but also just our water carbon footprint of these places is insane. And the fact that all of these data centers are being built for AI, I do not stand behind that. I do not use AI for anything. This is not the future that I want to give my daughter. This is not the future I want to give to the next generation, the generation after that. So, I told my company that I didn't want to go work there and it's going to get built with or without me that I know, but I don't have to say that I contributed.