Microsoft’s plan to counter community backlash over AI data centers

Microsoft has responded to the growing backlash over U.S. data center expansion with a set of five commitments meant to win over communities worried about electricity prices, water scarcity and job losses. More than $64 billion in data center projects were killed over the past two years by villages, towns and cities concerned about surging utility bills, shrinking water supplies and land development deals conducted in secrecy. The Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative encapsulates the policies that Microsoft will use when approaching new development starting this year, including a promise to bear the cost of electric grid transmission updates and new generation resources. “We need to stand up and step up as an industry and ensure that we pay the tab for things like the cost of electricity data centers will need,” said Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, speaking at a launch event in Washington, D.C. Microsoft is also pledging to replenish water in communities that host new facilities, to train and hire local residents for jobs at its facilities, and to refrain from requesting special tax breaks.  Community-First AI Infrastructure doesn’t include specific policies related to land-use conversion, another concern for some rural agricultural communities. But Microsoft’s data center development team screens sites for potential impacts on nature and biodiversity. The Trump administration has adopted sweeping federal-level policies to encourage AI infrastructure development via executive order, but the real decision making comes at the community level, Smith said: “As important as the President of the United States is…

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