In 2025, residents of St. Charles, Missouri  delivered a clear message: large-scale digital infrastructure cannot move forward without community trust, transparency, and alignment with local priorities. A proposed billion-dollar data center—touted as an economic win—was ultimately withdrawn after sustained public opposition, prompting city leaders to pause all similar projects for at least a year. The episode offers a revealing case study in how communities are reassessing th

Artificial intelligence is entering a new phase. While much of the public conversation has focused on generative AI —systems that produce text, images, or code on request—a more consequential evolution is underway: agentic AI . For policymakers, understanding agentic AI is essential. Unlike earlier AI systems that respond to prompts, agentic AI systems can plan, decide, and act —often across multiple systems and over extended periods of time. This shift introduces new opportu

As AI data centers evolve into integrated energy-and-compute systems, they expose a deeper structural mismatch between modern digital infrastructure and legacy power models. The challenge is not simply the amount of electricity AI consumes, but the way that consumption collides with grids optimized for slower growth, distributed demand, and predictable usage patterns. To understand why self-generation is emerging as a rational response—not a radical one—it is necessary to exa

Bernie Sanders’ call for a data center moratorium reflects deeper concerns about energy use, water strain, local community impact, wealth concentration, and tax fairness as AI-driven infrastructure expands. While industry warns that a pause could threaten innovation, grid modernization, and U.S. competitiveness, the debate exposes a governance gap—highlighting the need for clear, repeatable frameworks to evaluate data center impacts and align technological growth with public