The only thing growing faster than AI right now is how much regular people absolutely hate it. I've never seen public opinion turn this quickly.
u/TonyLiberty ·
Reddit — r/FluentInFinance
· May 26, 2026 at 21:18
· ⬆ 136 pts
· 💬 19 comments
| View on Reddit ↗
AI Summary
Summary
Post argues that public backlash against AI is accelerating, citing blocked data center projects (48 worth $156B in 2024, 20 canceled in Q1 2026), protests, and rising energy costs.
Author’s thesis: The “revolt” against AI infrastructure is real and will slow or reverse the buildout of data centers, creating headwinds for related equities.
Quality assessment: Anecdotal/speculative – references real events but lacks rigorous financial analysis; more a warning than thorough DD.
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The only thing growing faster than AI right now is how much regular people absolutely hate it.
I've never seen public opinion turn this quickly.
48 data center projects worth $156 billion got blocked last year and 20 were canceled in the first quarter of this year.
Tech executives are getting booed during college graduation speeches. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's home.
In Missouri, voters ousted 4 city council members. The reason? They'd approved a $6 billion data center one week earlier.
Energy bills are rising because data centers drain power grids. Wells are running dry near server farms. People fear losing their jobs. The revolt is here.
48 data center projects worth $156B were blocked last year, and 20 were canceled in Q1 2026; voters ousted council members over a $6B data center approval. Data center REITs like DLR rely on new project approvals and grid access; growing community opposition and regulatory hurdles threaten future revenue growth. Increasing resistance to data center construction directly pressures DLR’s development pipeline and valuation multiple, making a short attractive on sentiment shift. AI demand could outpace backlash, or DLR might pivot to international/less-regulated markets; short squeezes on beaten-down names are possible. No additional actionable trade ideas in this post.