The Economist.
Advances in artificial intelligence have long terrified techies.
Lately, voters are feeling the angst too.
AI is unpopular in the West and climbing up the political agenda.
The fiercest fights so far have been in America,
where protests against data centres have scuppered nearly $100 billion worth of projects.
Warring AI megadonors have just dumped tens of millions into a Manhattan congressional race.
And around 40% of voters tell pollsters that they want AI banned from most industries.
But spats are breaking out elsewhere.
After chip-making profits soared recently,
workers at Samsung in South Korea threatened a strike to secure special payouts.
The backlash is only just getting started because the technology is only just getting started too.
Britain's flimsy Prime Minister-in-waiting, Andy Burnham, has barely said a word about AI.
Even Americans still rank it 29th out of 39 election issues.
That is bound to change, and battles over data centers offer a hint of the struggles to come.
The buildings summon a vitriol well beyond conventional nimbyism.
More Americans say they would be happy with a nuclear reactor next door than a data center.
Even plans to build one in the Utah desert have met with passionate opposition.
Data centers can be ugly, it is true, but the opposition reflects the technology's reputation.
AI bosses have spent years warning of a looming job-pocalypse