Data center NDAs helped fuel AI opposition, Stanford conference hears
By Mike Swift ( November 13, 2026, 01:33 GMT | Insight) -- Secretive data center deals have fueled public anger at local officials as communities confront water use and landscape changes without clear benefits from AI. At a Stanford conference, speakers cited rapid AI adoption and promising productivity gains but emphasized gaps in economic data and the need to share data centers' benefits more broadly with host communities.When Jenn Duff took office on the Mesa, Arizona, city council in 2019, she didn't really know what a data center was. Then Google came calling....
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