Generate This: The Impact of AI on Our Society

Water. Land. Electricity. The modern world requires these. Humans require water to survive; farmers and ranchers need it for agriculture; and industry uses it to produce goods and value. Each of these water consumers also needs land for different purposes. Electricity keeps the lights on, ensures watering occurs on a timer, and propels the machines of industry and prosperity forward. Lurking underneath all of this is the rise of data centers.

To be sure, there are many types of data centers, and they are not created equally. Internet service providers use data centers to connect millions of customers to the internet. Telecommunications companies use data centers to ensure that millions of cell phones and devices can connect to the network simultaneously. Most websites are hosted on servers in data centers that store the text, images, and data we access each time we shop online, browse for a new car or home, read a blog, or visit our favorite news website. For these reasons, data centers are not inherently bad. However, there is a type of data center that consumes the same municipal water we drink, purchases land that could be used for homes, schools, and businesses, and drives up electricity costs for consumers. These are AI data centers.

Business Insider estimates that there were 1,416 data centers in the United States in June 2026. The Oklahoman reported that same month that 45 of these are right here in Oklahoma, including 10 AI data centers. There are more on the way. According to Pew Research, data centers currently account for 4% of the United States’ electricity consumption. For example, an AI data center being built in Wyoming will consume more electricity than all the homes in WY combined and can scale even larger once complete. An AI data center, specifically a so-called “hyper-scaler,” can consume as much as five million gallons of water per day. And this is just the beginning of the “AI boom.”

Societal Impacts

Have you ever heard or started a sentence with “when I was a kid, we…” I’ve never put much stock in those phrases, just as I tend to discount the phrase “if I can do it, anyone can do it.” But I will venture one that is likely to be true: “When I was a kid, we actually had to learn to think critically.” I say this because I have five boys. The kindergarten in my school district has laptops in the classroom for the kids to use. Laptops. For five-year-olds. I strongly disagree with that policy and believe that children should be children. Learn, run, play, read books, practice fine motor skills, and learn to problem-solve. Not to stare at screens.

On the other hand, generative AI is now accessible to everyone. I can only imagine how often homework, college essays, scholarship applications, and routine work on the job are being outsourced to AI. This phenomenon deeply concerns me.

I do not have any problem with technology or the concept of AI as a tool. Instead, I worry about the use of AI as a crutch. I worry that the prevalent use of AI among children and teens will hinder their ability to develop critical thinking and make intelligent decisions as they enter adulthood. I worry that creativity will atrophy in our society as people turn to AI to generate poems, lyrics, art, and more. But every person must decide for themselves where to draw that line; we cannot regulate good decisions in the United States of America.

I recently used AI for some help, and would like to share an example of how I think it could be deployed. I do not like the idea of my children losing all the progress they made over the school year. So, yes, I am that cruel parent who has them do two hours of learning each morning during the summer. I am a monster, I know. For one of my older boys, he used Khan Academy. For my younger boys, I mentioned earlier that I do not approve of hours of screen time for young minds. So, I turned to AI and developed a daily packet for the summer that had the following every day: a brain game, reading comprehension, math, and vocabulary building. I asked AI to write all the stories about Oklahoma history, her tribes, and native flora and fauna. I tasked the AI with researching grade-level equivalencies and goals from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the United States Department of Education. We went through two or three rounds of tweaking and ultimately landed on a very educational summer packet that I printed and separated by day. Did my son love it? Absolutely not. But I thought it was a great use of artificial intelligence and an application that could have long-term societal benefits. My fears are long-term societal costs.

Economic Impacts

AI is creating wealth for the wealthy. Companies like Nvidia and AMD are on the rise due to contracts for GPUs and processors. Electric utilities are experiencing a booming demand for their products. Construction companies are struggling to keep up with demand all across this country. Some companies are deploying AI models into their workflows, and then laying off staff, which saves money and improves profitability. That is exactly where we should focus government scrutiny.

Corporate efficiency should not become a burden on taxpayers. We know that AI adoption rates will surge over the next five years as major employers replace jobs with AI. The question is whether these employees can be reabsorbed into the market at a different company, in a different role, or at a different location, or whether they will require unemployment, SNAP, and other assistance in the wake of their layoff. This compounds the fact that AI data centers themselves do not replace the jobs lost.

AI data centers are not major employers. Further, they consume resources and strain local power grids and water resources, but do not generate independent economic value for the communities in which they are located. It is true that during their construction, AI data centers tend to generate tax revenue for local communities by providing temporary jobs. Still, these jobs and that revenue disappear the moment the facility is online, and local communities should not chase short-term revenues for permanent data center construction.

Beyond net losses to the greater economic market, AI data centers will also affect you, the consumer, personally. According to Pew Research, electricity bills in the United States are expected to increase by 8% by 2030 due to rising demand, and some markets could increase by as much as 25% over the same period. The report further estimates that in 2023, all data centers in the United States used a combined 17 billion gallons of water, but by 2028, hyperscale AI data centers alone will consume 33 billion gallons of water per year. These are real expenses that Americans will pay even if they have never used AI themselves.

AI data centers consume vast resources, provide very few permanent jobs, do not contribute large sums to local governments after construction is complete, will cost Americans money, and threaten the land, air, and water around them. States and the federal government must have the power to regulate these data centers.

National Security Concerns

The United States government uses AI for a variety of purposes: intelligence gathering, weapons targeting, workflow efficiencies, and more. We have a vested national security interest in ensuring that the AI models used by the United States are owned and controlled by U.S. persons and companies, are not being exploited by foreign adversaries, and that the data is protected from outside threats. The United States should aggressively pursue these goals and ensure that they always remain true.

The issue at the local level is twofold: 1) we must ensure that our utility grids are hardened against hackers and outside threats, and 2) we must ensure that each community decides whether a proposed data center should go forward in that community. Regarding national security concerns, America’s utilities are a major target for bad actors. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, water and wastewater services in seven states were targeted in July 2026. Before additional strain and reliance are placed on a given utility or grid, local communities should be given the time to identify needs and concerns, conduct studies, and harden their utility infrastructure. Economic gain should never outweigh national security concerns.

Beyond the national security implications, states are sovereigns and local communities should be empowered to decide whether a data center makes sense for their community. In a move to significantly erode state control and expand federal control over AI, on July 23, 2025, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14318 to “ease federal regulatory burdens” on the construction of new data centers in the United States. Then, on December 11, 2025, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14365. This Executive Order seeks to eliminate state regulation of AI companies. It states that, as it relates to the race for AI, “To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation. But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.” As a proponent of smaller government and states’ rights, I disagree that the federal government should preempt the rights of states and local governments to decide whether a data center is good for their communities. Thus, Congress should act to enshrine the right for states and local municipalities to make their own choice.

Proposed Action

The United States needs time to study the impact of AI data centers and the rapid and widespread deployment of AI models on 1) the global economy, 2) the national economy, and 3) local communities and their resources. To do that properly, there must now be enough data centers and models to begin a proper study. This is not to say that the federal government should impose a moratorium. Still, Congress should pass legislation allowing local communities to impose moratoriums and giving them an additional tool in their arsenal to stop or slow the expansion of data centers in this country. Congress should also direct the Federal Communications Commission or a similar agency to convene a commission and commence a study of these questions and the things we don’t know.

When you elect me to the United States Congress on November 3, I will fight for local governments and good jobs. I will fight because you deserve to breathe clean air. I will fight because you deserve to drink clean water. I will fight because you deserve to eat clean food. Let’s fight together.

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 Hannah Beckler & Monischa Srisuantang, See if There’s a Data Center Near You With Our Interactive Map, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-center-near-me-location-tracker-2026-6.

Josh Kelly, What Are Data Centers, What Do They Do? See How Many are in Oklahoma, The Oklahoman, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/business/2026/06/13/what-are-data-centers-how-many-are-in-oklahoma/90527966007/.

Paxson Haws, Amber, Grady County Residents Concerned Over Proposed Data Center, The Express-Star, https://www.chickashanews.com/news/amber-grady-county-residents-concerned-over-proposed-data-center/article_e2c6d101-81b6-416e-afef-848d7934b87c.html.

Rebecca Leppert, What We Know About Energy Use at U.S. Data Centers Amid the AI Boom, Pew Research, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/24/what-we-know-about-energy-use-at-us-data-centers-amid-the-ai-boom/#how-much-energy-do-data-centers-use.

Mead Gruver & Matt O’Brien, Cheyenne to Host Massive AI Data Center Using More Electricity Than All Wyoming Homes Combined, Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-data-center-electricity-wyoming-cheyenne-44da7974e2d942acd8bf003ebe2e855a.

Mead Gruver & Matt O’Brien, Cheyenne to Host Massive AI Data Center Using More Electricity Than All Wyoming Homes Combined, Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-data-center-electricity-wyoming-cheyenne-44da7974e2d942acd8bf003ebe2e855a.

Miguel Yanez-Barnuevo, Data Centers and Water Consumption, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption.

Aditi Ganguly, 99% of CEOs Are Planning AI Layoffs In the Next 2 Years—And Entry-Level Workers Will See the Biggest Hit. Prepare Now, Yahoo! Finance, https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/99-ceos-planning-ai-layoffs-173000476.html.

Malicious Cyber Actors Targeting Water and Wastewater Sector Internet- Facing Programmable Logic Controllers, Causing Operational Disruptions, Federal Bureau of Investigation, https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber/alerts/2026/malicious-cyber-actors-targeting-water-and-wastewater-sector-internet--facing-programmable-logic-controllers-causing-operational-disruptions.

Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, The White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/accelerating-federal-permitting-of-data-center-infrastructure/.

Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, The White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/eliminating-state-law-obstruction-of-national-artificial-intelligence-policy/.