The anti-AI movement may be perceived as a grassroots band of environmentally focused individuals, but that characterization may be misleading.
A report from the American Energy Institute found the anti-AI data center movement — which has been billed as an organic movement — received more than $39 million in funding from left-wing foreign billionaire donors. Among the major donors listed in the report is Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, known for donating to leftwing advocacy groups such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund which, in turn, is well known as a major fiscal sponsor and “dark money” hub for liberal causes.
Top recipients of the nearly $40 million funding are the Indivisible, 350.org, Oil Change International, GAIA, and Sierra Club. The national organizations farm out funding to local affiliated organizations such as the ‘Stop The Data Center Coming To Martindale Brightwood’ in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The report found that local chapters of the Sierra Club are currently coaching residents to fight zoning changes and file lawsuits. The report also shows 350.org and the Indivisible Project received $7.5M, GAIA recieved 6.4M , and the Sierra Club $2.1M.
“This report reveals that more than $39 million in foreign funding is flowing to activist groups working to block data center development and the energy infrastructure needed to support it,” said the Founder and CEO American Energy Institute. “These are not isolated protests, they are part of a coordinated national campaign to slow the buildout of the electricity systems required for AI, manufacturing, and economic growth.” He added, “When foreign-backed networks are organizing opposition to critical infrastructure, it raises serious concerns about who benefits from weakening U.S. energy capacity.”
The funding puts a recent letter to Congress, calling for an AI moratorium, into question. The December letter had more than 230 environmental groups united in calling for a national moratorium on new data centers in the United States. Shortly after the letter was sent, Senator Bernie Sanders also called for an AI moratorium which would pause the construction and development of new AI data centers in the United States. Sanders says the goal was to give the government a chance to catch up.
“This process is moving very, very quickly and we need to slow it down. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up with the transformative changes that we are witnessing,” said Sanders. Last week, Sanders proposed his AI moratorium bill in conjunction with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
President Trump’s AI Czar David Sacks says the AI moratorium would do nothing to slow down China, creating an unacceptable technological imbalance.
“But again we can’t stop China from making progress. All we would be doing is ceding leadership of this AI race to China. What people like Bernie really want is they want the US to become like Europe. Europe has half the share of Global GDP they had thirty years ago. And that’s because of their hostility towards innovation and technological progress,” he said.
Another donor from the report, Hedge Fund Manager Chris Hohn has stated, “AI’s already having an impact; it will continue to have an impact, and that may mean that our associate classes are a little bit smaller in future years.” In another interview he said Artificial Intelligence will cause disruption in ways that can’t be predicted.
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