‘Clearly, people hate data centers’: Sam Altman admits Americans hate what he’s wrought as his own data centers head quits

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has admitted that Americans have a strong dislike for data centers, despite the company's plans to invest heavily in infrastructure. In an interview with Time, Altman stated that people are "pretty negative on AI" and that "clearly, people hate data centers—right now, at least." This admission comes just a week after OpenAI's head of data centers, Chris Malone, left the company, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by CNBC.

OpenAI had spent the past year significantly expanding its Stargate infrastructure project, with plans to invest up to $500 billion in the U.S. AI infrastructure. By September 2025, they had announced six U.S. Stargate sites, aiming for nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity. However, they have since added more projects, including a 1-GW campus in Michigan, a 3.2 GW project in Georgia, and an agreement for approximately 8 GW of IT capacity in southern Ohio.

OpenAI still claims it does not have enough computing power and plans to buy more. Despite Altman's assessment of the public's negative sentiment towards data centers, seven in 10 Americans oppose building them in their area, according to a Gallup poll. This opposition can lead to financial consequences, with at least 48 data center projects representing $156 billion in investment facing setbacks due to local resistance.

The backlash is also influencing policy, with state governments proposing more than 120 moratoriums on data center development in 38 states as of July. Texas and Pennsylvania have taken steps to scrutinize data centers seeking to connect to the power grid and impose new energy-affordability, environmental, and community requirements.

The opposition to data centers is uniting people from across the political spectrum ahead of the midterm elections, with most registered voters opposing them, including 60% of Republicans and 53% of MAGA.