Last week, in my hometown of Marietta, Georgia, residents crowded into a City Hall meeting in protest of the construction of an AI data center on Bells Ferry Road. Videos from the meeting quickly spread across my social media feeds, showing the chamber filled with demonstrators pressing local officials for answers. Inside, protesters held handmade signs and voiced their frustration directly at city leaders, while outside, others gathered at the glass walls, shouting and banging in protest. 

Many of their concerns are already familiar within the broader, national conversation. Residents worried about the environmental impact of the project, the huge amount of electricity a data center would use, and what that could mean for local utility costs. Others were frustrated by what they saw as a planning process that progressed without enough public input. 

One speaker at the City Hall meeting was Sam Foster, a twenty four year old community organizer who recently ran for mayor of Marietta. During his campaign, Foster promised the implementation of Community Land Trusts to give residents more control over local development, including potential data center projects. At the meeting, he joined others in urging city leaders to take community concerns seriously, highlighting the importance of keeping the public informed about ongoing development projects and their potential consequences. 

What stood out to me about this particular protest was not just the volume of opposition, but also just how young the crowd was. Many speakers were students, recent graduates, or organizers in their twenties. 

Young People Are Paying Attention

The reality is, young people have been hearing for years now that artificial intelligence will transform every aspect of their lives from education to medicine to transportation, and nearly every part of modern life. Subsequently, there is a growing anxiety amongst recent graduates regarding job stability. Many Gen Z students had previously been encouraged to pursue careers in IT and Computer Science, but now find themselves trapped in the very industries that are most predominately strangled by the AI boom. 

As the industry grows, companies are rushing to build the data centers needed to generate increasingly powerful AI models. Local officials often welcome these projects because they bring investment and generate tax revenue. Supporters view them as part of the next wave of economic development. But many young people are asking a different set of questions. How much energy will these facilities use? How much water will they consume? What does the community actually gain in return? And who gets to decide whether they are built in the first place? 

The National Debate 

The debate isn’t just in Georgia. Across the country, students and young organizers have become some of the most vocal critics of the rapid growth of AI infrastructure. Community groups have formed to challenge proposed developments, environmental activists have raised

concerns about energy demand, and local residents have called for more transparency from both government officials and tech companies. 

One moment that captured this broader mood happened earlier this year at the University of Arizona. During a commencement speech, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt faced jeers and heckling from graduates as he spoke about artificial intelligence and its future. This moment was one of many graduation commencement protests that we’ve seen in the past few months. 

Whether you agree with these protests or not, it demonstrates how there is a growing skepticism among young people who are asked to embrace AI while also dealing with concerns about employment availability, climate change, corporate power, and economic uncertainty. 

Who Gets To Shape the Future?

What I see is a shift in the conversation. The question is no longer whether AI will play a bigger role in society. The industry has evolved so rapidly that we have far surpassed the issue of whether or not it should be implemented. The question now is who gets to shape where it’s built and what trade-offs communities will have to accept along the way. 

That’s why the protest in Marietta felt significant to me. On the surface, it was a disagreement over a proposed data center. But beneath that was a larger debate about power, participation, and the future of technological development. 

I don’t know what will happen with the Bells Ferry Road project. It may proceed. It could change. It might never be built at all. What I do know is that the people attending these meetings are part of a growing movement. 

As AI shifts from a far-removed tool we occasionally interact with on our screens to something that is literally reshaping the landscape of our communities, young people are not just demanding a voice in what comes next, but actively showing up to shape the conversation themselves. And judging by the crowds gathering at city halls, public hearings, and even commencement ceremonies, this conversation is only getting louder.

Are you for anti AI protests? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!