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Tech News
Former Opendoor CEO Eric Wu has emerged from a year-long break to found a new company, now out of stealth since May, that builds AI-powered voice assistants for construction and field workers. The tool acts as a hands-free coach guiding laborers through tasks, aiming to address a labor shortfall the industry group Associated Builders and Contractors pegs at roughly 349,000 missing workers this year.
X reported identifying roughly 200 accounts tied to China that it says were amplifying anti-data center rhetoric on the platform, sparking coverage framing local opposition as foreign manipulation. President Trump quickly echoed the claim on Truth Social, suggesting China benefits from the backlash against US data center construction, even as public polling shows growing domestic opposition to these projects regardless of any outside influence.
A group called Build American AI, backed by venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, is launching a multimillion-dollar advertising push in states like Ohio, Wisconsin and Kansas to counter growing public opposition to AI data centers. Brockman's $100 million super PAC, Leading the Future, is reportedly financing the campaign, which frames pushback against data centers as a threat to jobs and American competitiveness.
As AI data centers rise across the country, the trucking industry is quietly benefiting from hauling the materials needed to build them—HVAC systems, wiring, tubing and semiconductors. Industry executives say this equipment-heavy freight, especially flatbed and heavy-haul segments, has seen multiyear-high spot rates and tighter capacity even as broader freight demand remains uneven amid tariffs and record diesel prices.
xAI-affiliated SpaceXAI is giving Memphis and Southaven, Mississippi residents 50% off Starlink internet plans and waiving the upfront cost of its new V5 hardware kit, following criticism over unpermitted gas generators powering its AI data centers. About 2,000 households have signed up since the July launch, a small fraction of the roughly 250,000 households in the Memphis area. A similar promotion is running in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.
Meta is testing robot arms from suppliers including ABB, Kinova, and Watney Robotics to handle physical data center tasks like swapping network cables and power-cycling server racks. The effort is still in early trial stages, but an anonymous Meta employee said a Kinova robotic arm could eventually take over up to 80 percent of workers' current duties. Meta declined to comment when asked about the testing.
Candidates across parties are campaigning against Flock Safety's AI-powered license-plate camera network, which operates in thousands of U.S. communities and lets police search shared vehicle data. Politicians in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida have called for bans, funding cuts, warrant requirements, or campaigned directly against the surveillance system. Flock defends the technology, citing its role in solving roughly a million crimes and reuniting thousands of missing people with families.
Jacob Stokes, a former Obama national security official now at the Center for a New American Security, published a report titled 'Superpowers and AGI' urging the US to prepare drastic responses if China reaches artificial general intelligence first. His proposed options range from cyberattacks to sabotage AI systems up to kinetic military strikes on physical data centers, which he acknowledges carries the highest risk of escalation.
Major technology companies are adjusting how they plan and build data centers as opposition grows in communities affected by noise, power demand, and land use concerns tied to the AI boom. The shift reflects an effort to address local pushback that has slowed or stalled some previous projects.
A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis found that job postings in AI-exposed fields across Texas fell 8% by early 2025 compared to less-exposed roles, hitting recent college graduates hardest. Texas leads the nation in data center construction, yet the study suggests the buildout has coincided with weaker hiring rather than the job growth often promised by AI boosters. Governor Greg Abbott, once a vocal supporter of the data center expansion, recently froze new grid connections amid mounting public pressure.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back on claims that ChatGPT usage consumes excessive water, comparing it to a viral claim that a single query uses as much water as running a shower for six hours. Speaking on the Sources Podcast, he said 38,000 queries equate to the water needed to grow one almond in California, and argued modern data centers no longer rely on evaporative cooling, instead using water similar to an office building.
The EPA has proposed eliminating a federal rule that requires states to notify the public and accept comments before issuing air pollution permits for data centers and other industrial facilities. States would still be allowed to hold public comment periods voluntarily, but would no longer be required to do so as a condition of granting permits. The proposal comes amid growing local opposition to the rapid construction of AI-driven data centers nationwide.