If there’s one thing most Americans agree on, it’s that they don’t want hyperscale AI data centers built in their neighborhoods. Despite a call from some AI leaders to slow the technology’s development, Pennsylvania leaders who spoke at the AI Horizons conference in Pittsburgh last week touted its benefits.
So where do they stand on the AI build-out?
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The protestors: ‘Our health is in danger’
About 30 people rallied along Penn Avenue in the morning of Sept. 17, just outside where the two-day conference was getting started. They held signs that read “No data centers,” “Challenge the AI power supply,” and Cathy Mager’s said, “Springdale deserves to breathe free.”
“Because I do not want a data center in my backyard,” she said.
Mager is worried about living near the hyperscale AI data center campus planned in Springdale Borough. “It’s bordered on three sides by homes, on the fourth side by the Allegheny River…our health is in danger. We don’t feel comfortable with it for many reasons,” she said.
Other protesters were worried about job losses to AI. Phoebe Reese of the Breathe Project, an environmental group, is worried about the energy demands of AI data centers, which will mean more fracking in the region.
“We are here today because the massive fossil fuel rollout to support AI data center infrastructure just doesn’t math with climate science or public health data,” she said.
Data center opposition isn’t only from environmental advocates. A Gallup poll earlier this year found that more than 70 percent of Americans oppose construction of an AI data center in their area.
Pittsburgh Mayor Cory O’Connor: ‘More jobs’
One conference panel included Jumbi Edulbehram of NVIDIA, a leading AI company, who spoke enthusiastically about how cities can use AI, and how leaders can explain that to citizens.
“You don’t go and say ‘Look, we’re going to adopt AI for the sake of AI,’” he said. “We’re going to adopt AI because it’s going to be better traffic management, quicker, better, faster response to road conditions and potholes. And then you realize there’s AI that goes into that.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor, who was also on the panel, spoke about using AI to improve traffic patterns and emergency management, support city budgeting and streamline permitting processes, as well as to attract companies to the city.
“The push for what we’re talking about is start-ups and entrepreneurs and expanding their companies, whether it’s printing, 3D printing, whether it is different types of manufacturing,” he said. “All of those things coming to Pittsburgh creates opportunities for Pittsburghers and more jobs.”
When asked if a push for AI use would translate into the need for new data centers in the region, O’Connor said he does not support data centers within city limits.
“I was not saying anything about expanding what you’re talking about,” he said.
Labor leaders: ‘This has meant so much to us’
At another panel discussion, Shawn Steffee, business agent of the Boilermakers Union Local 154 in Pittsburgh, said AI data centers have brought a resurgence in his trade. New data centers need power, and that means new power plants.
“The Boilermakers are the heart of a power plant. We build the boiler, the internals, the stacks, the tanks,” he explained.
Steffee gave the example of the new data center in Homer City, east of Pittsburgh, a $10 billion project that is reportedly building the largest gas-fired power plant in the country.
“With this campus being built, the energy campus in Homer City, this has meant so much to us because for almost five years, we’ve not taken one new apprentice in,” he said. “And just last week, we marked our 230th apprentice that we’ve taken in the last six months.”
Toby Rice, President and CEO of EQT: ‘I got really excited’
On the same conference panel, Toby Rice, President and CEO of EQT, a Pittsburgh-based energy company, said the more of these “absolutely massive” data centers that are built, the more natural gas will be needed to power them, and that is good for his business.
“When this AI boom came out a few years ago, I got really excited because they’re going to need a lot of electricity,” Rice said.
He also touted royalties from the gas needed to power these data centers.
“For every gigawatt of power generation that gets built, it is going to translate to $30 to $40 million in royalties that are going to be pumped into the communities,” he said.
Rice compared opposition to data centers to opposition to fracking, citing concerns about noise, light and water use.
“This is an incredibly difficult time for our leaders who have to listen to the people and their concerns, but we have to get past these concerns, address them, but really understand the issue, and then we need to lead…so we can focus on the opportunities,” he said.
Governor Josh Shapiro: ‘It’s a false choice’
Governor Josh Shapiro’s afternoon speech was billed as a keynote on “innovation, economic growth and Pennsylvania’s opportunity to lead the next era of American technology and industry.” He said last year at this same conference he touted AI.
“I talked about the promise and the possibility of AI and what it means for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I talked about how AI can create efficiencies, better health outcomes, assist workers in their daily tasks if it is developed in responsible and ethical ways. I still believe that opportunity exists,” he said.
But he said the events of the past several weeks have made it clear that “we cannot ignore the warning signs nor downplay the very real risks.”
He was referring to recent reports of concerning behavior by AI models, including hiding mistakes, making up data, moving files to the open internet without permission, and hacking other organizations.
While tech leaders have called for a slowdown in development of the technology, President Trump has rejected efforts to regulate AI.
Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, said it is possible that the U.S. can regulate AI without shutting down the technology.
“It’s a false choice to say that our only two options in America are to do what Donald Trump is saying, that we should ignore the risks and go full steam ahead, or on the other hand, to completely stop work on AI development indefinitely,” he said. “There is a better, more thoughtful way, and that is what we have to collectively work toward.”
Shapiro did not talk about data centers, but his recent Executive Order requires local government approval before the state will consider permits for a new data center.
Shapiro calls on Trump to regulate artificial intelligence development
Senator John Fetterman: ‘We’re going to need data centers’
Democratic Senator John Fetterman said he does not agree with putting guardrails on AI technology.
“No one really knows exactly what a guardrail is, because we’re talking about superintelligence,” he said, adding that if the U.S. had regulated ChatGPT a few years ago, as had been discussed, the country would have fallen behind China in the AI race.
“AI is inevitable,” he continued. “It can be us, or it could be the Chinese, and we can live under their rules.”
Fetterman called for a Cabinet-level position on AI.
“AI will transform not just transportation, agriculture, you know, all of it,” he said. “I think it’s entirely appropriate to put that front and center and make it formal in our government now.”
In an article in The Hill, Fetterman called progressive Democrats’ push for a pause in new data centers “ridiculous.” At the conference, Fetterman suggested opposition to new data centers is being stoked by a U.S. competitor.
“Now where does the opposition of data centers seem to come?” he said. “They are coming from our adversary and a lot of paid, paid kinds of targeting, and how they went from nowhere into absolutely into a political barn burner, and now it makes it seem like it’s a scourge.”
Senator David McCormick: ‘It depends on how we manage this moment’
Republican Senator David McCormick said AI is benefiting society in many ways.
“What’s happening in life sciences and the advancements because of AI to solve rare diseases, to increase productivity, to bring wealth and opportunity and productivity to our workforce; it’s remarkable. It also poses risks,” he said. “So it really depends on what we do. It depends on how we manage this moment.”
McCormick said the government shouldn’t get in the way of technological innovation; instead, he called on the industry to regulate itself.
“There’s a responsibility that exists with the companies, and there’s responsibility that I think we can ensure the right guidelines and rules with an industry-led operation involving the government,” he said.
Energy suppliers: ‘We’re ready for it’
Another conference panel addressed how to deliver the energy needed for data centers. According to the state, more than 100 have been proposed in Pennsylvania. A recent report estimates that electricity demand in the state will likely double by 2040, with most of the demand coming from data centers, and warns of increasing blackouts.
Panelists, including power suppliers and pipeline and energy companies, talked about the need to expand infrastructure and improve the electric grid.
Brian Guzek, vice president of operations at Duquesne Light Company, which supplies electricity in Allegheny and Beaver counties, said he is optimistic.
“I imagine a world of incredible grid flexibility. We’re going to invest $2.7 billion by 2030,” he said. “We are ready for it.”
