Future of data centers in question as Midterm Election results slam AI industry

Democrats expected to push for tougher data center regulations

The lawmakers FOX 2 spoke with say they are still wrapping their heads around what the new legislation could look like. But some AI companies are already making their own policy changes in response to Washington’s new direction. OpenAI released a new series of data center commitments—vowing to pay full electricity and infrastructure costs at its facilities, alongside new environmental protection plans.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Democrats are looking to push tougher regulations on data centers just two days after regaining control of Congress and state lawmakers are following suit.

Meantime, the AI industry is trying to regain its footing after a sharp reaction on Wall Street following Tuesday's midterm results.

AI future in question after blue wave

Big picture view:

OpenAI released a new series of data center commitments—vowing to pay full electricity and infrastructure costs at its facilities, alongside new environmental protection plans.

It comes as Democrats in the incoming congressional majority push for a one-year moratorium on new data center construction, citing grid strain, public safety, and job loss concerns. Lawmakers are also demanding mandatory safety frameworks and calling on Big Tech CEOs to testify.

What they're saying:

FOX 2 asked industry experts what these potential new regulations could look like.

"My expectation is that they will put up some legislation similar to what we’ve seen from states like Illinois and California to maybe prevent larger companies from taking advantage of the leeway that they’ve had in AI for the past few years," said AI expert Joe Tavares.

"Well, we’re always going to try to protect the people, right? So we are looking at how do we protect energy, how do we protect water, how do we protect communities, noise regulations," said Awecomm CEO Brent Yax. "I assume we are going to see more of that. I hope we don’t see a moratorium because I think that slows us down quite a bit, but I do hope we see those regulations and see other states regulate this while building, and not slow down economic development."

This push is playing out at the grassroots level, too—voters approved dozens of local ballot measures nationwide this week to delay or ban new data centers over noise and rising utility rates.