"At a recent televised dinner at the White House, Big Tech executives profusely thanked Donald Trump for unleashing "American innovation," while the president, in turn, praised Big Tech for "investing billions in the country." This orchestration of Big Tech executives kissing the ring was more than a display of how tech oligarchy has become the new normal. It was a dramatized, Gilded Age-type demonstration of Trump's AI Action Plan, which grants Big Tech the unfettered ability to expand AI infrastructure."
"Announced in July 2025, Trump's AI plan aims to accelerate the construction of data centers by bypassing public protections, environmental laws, and critical oversight. This push for federal deregulation is a direct response to more and more local communities fighting back to unveil who actually benefits from these massive investments - and who is being sold out in the process. Data centers powering AI require an enormous amount of water and energy. A single data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of drinking water per day. A data center campus using one gigawatt of electric power annually would use more power in a year than consumers use in Alaska, Rhode Island, or Vermont."
Big Tech executives publicly praised Donald Trump for enabling rapid technological investment, aligning with an AI Action Plan that empowers tech firms to expand infrastructure. The AI plan, announced in July 2025, aims to speed construction of data centers by circumventing public protections, environmental laws, and oversight. Local communities increasingly resist and seek transparency about beneficiaries and impacts. AI data centers demand vast water and energy resources; a single center can use up to 5 million gallons of drinking water daily, and a one-gigawatt campus can consume more annual electricity than states like Alaska, Rhode Island, or Vermont. Rapid build-out risks locking in fossil-fuel dependence, raising utility costs, and intensifying competition for drinking water.
Read at Truthout
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