AI backlash: For Americans, it’s not just about the economy
The resistance to data centres in Michigan, where the writer lives, offers a glimpse of wider concerns.
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A demonstrator with a “Water is Life” sign during a protest against “The Barn” data centre, developed by Related Digital for Oracle and OpenAI, in Michigan on July 30.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
On June 1, 2026, Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer attended the ground-breaking for a data centre some 30km from my house, with the chief executives of Related Digital, Oracle and OpenAI.
Related Digital, part of The Related Company founded and majority-owned by Stephen M. Ross, a University of Michigan alumnus and benefactor of the business school where I worked, is a major data centre developer.