Conservative data center activists take fight to AI companies front door in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — As food delivery workers on e-scooters whizzed past a hulking tour bus parked next to Anthropic’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco on Monday afternoon, software engineers returning from their lunch breaks snapped pictures of a brash slogan bursting out of the bus’ idyllic Americana artwork of farmhouses and fields of grain.“AI Data Center Revolt,” the bus’ detailed wrapping declared, proclaiming its mission to rally communities against wanton data center construction efforts across the country.
The bus and its small crew of conservative activists from a group called Humans First had just completed an over 8,000-mile whistle-stop marathon of a road trip on perhaps the most uniting theme today: anti-data-center sentiment.Humans First's tour bus parked in front of Anthropic's headquarters Monday after having visited OpenAI, Google, Meta and Nvidia facilities.Jared Perlo / NBC News“This technology is being shoved down people’s throats,” said Amy Kremer, chair of Humans First, admiring the bus’ artwork from a nearby sidewalk.She said the group aimed to push back against AI giants and their assumption that they can build billions of dollars of AI infrastructure without residents’ input.
“That’s not the American way,” she said.Founded this year as a coalition of left- and right-wing activists who worry that the rush to embrace AI is being spearheaded by tech oligarchs steamrolling Americans’ ability to steer the technology, Humans First has since morphed into a conservative-only effort led by Kremer to advocate for better guardrails on data center construction and AI in general.Amy Kremer, chair of Humans First, and her dog, Lovey, in San Francisco on Monday.Jared Perlo / NBC NewsKremer, a veteran conservative organizer, has spearheaded cross-country bus trips to extol tea party talking points and deny the outcome of the 2020 election.Composed of Kremer, her husband, her daughter and her dog, Lovey — “He’s been w...