A terrifying attack on an Indianapolis city councilman’s home has ignited fears that mounting opposition to the data centers that power artificial intelligence is taking an increasingly violent turn.
Ron Gibson, who is serving his third term on the Indianapolis City-County Council, said someone fired 13 shots into his front door early Monday – and left a handwritten note that said “NO DATA CENTERS”.
That was just days after Gibson attended a Metropolitan Development Commission meeting to support a data center project, one the developer said would be used at least in part for AI, in a local neighborhood — drawing boos from attendees when he stepped up to speak about the jobs it could bring, according to a CBS News report.
“Just steps from where those bullets struck is our dining room table, where my son had been playing with his Legos the day before,” Gibson said. “That reality is deeply unsettling.”
Opposition to data centers has escalated rapidly over the past year, according to a November report by the Soufan Center, a security-focused research group. The hulking facilities have become lightning rods for fears that AI is poised to eliminate jobs, even as the data centers themselves threaten to jack up electricity and water bills.
Last week, a data center developer in California alleged in a lawsuit that a group of eco-activists orchestrated a vicious online attack that led to calls for “public executions” and Luigi Mangione-inspired death threats.
In December, a city council meeting in Port Washington, Wis., ended with police cuffing and dragging off a group of middle-aged women who derailed a hearing on a data center project, local news footage shows. The women were cited for disorderly conduct, according to reports.
“At county town halls across the country where data centers have been proposed, opposition from residents and local environmental groups has centered on the impact of data centers’ water and energy needs on local communities, often framed as an existential issue,” the Soufan Center report stated.
“Converging ideological, political, and socio-economic dynamics … may motivate individuals to target the AI sector in the near future,” it added.
The Indianapolis shooting at the councilman’s door was the latest and possibly the most extreme case yet.
“My 8-year-old son and I were not physically harmed, but we were awakened by the sound of gunfire. Like any parent, I immediately ran to him and reassured him that he was safe,” Gibson said in a statement, adding: “This will not deter me.”
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said it believes the shooting was an isolated, targeted incident and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting a probe.
The data-center boom is driven by tech companies’ insatiable need for computing power to train artificial intelligence tools, with proponents emphasizing that the US is in a race with China for dominance over the breakthrough technology.
But the costs can be stiff. In Virginia, where data centers now hog 26% of the state’s electricity, consumer bills in areas near the facilities have skyrocketed 267% compared to five years ago, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News.
Virginia and Texas lead the country in data-center construction, with 579 and 411 facilities, respectively, according to the industry website Data Center Map.
As community backlash grows, lawmakers in more than 10 states have proposed temporary bans on data-center construction, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Dozens of county and city governments have already passed such measures.
Maine is poised to become the first state to prohibit the building of new data centers with legislation that could pass this spring.
Last week, The Post reported that Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, which is attempting to build what would be the largest data center in California, filed a lawsuit claiming nonprofit Civico del Valle and its executive director are attempting to stall the project in a bid to force a financial settlement.
The nonprofit also hired thugs to stage online attacks and led to Luigi Mangione-style death threats, the suit alleges.
Khara Boender, who lobbies on behalf of data center development for the Data Center Coalition, said developers are increasingly considering local regulations and potential opposition when deciding where to plan projects. That includes moving projects out of states with a tough regulatory environment.
Last May, Google’s former chief executive officer, Eric Schmidt, predicted that the most powerful artificial intelligence systems will be housed on military bases surrounded by machine guns in the US and China.
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