Tracking the "Stop the Slop" Movement
The Slow Revolt Against Data Centers
Like meat and clothing, there are certain parts of life where we exhibit blissful ignorance. Most of us don't want to know how that juicy filet got on our plates. We want to enjoy that steak dinner and move on with our lives.
I'd argue the same was generally true of LLMs. More than half of U.S. adults now use LLMs, which makes them one of the fastest adopted technologies ever recorded. From editing PowerPoints to being our personal therapists, it's clear that LLMs have already dramatically changed our society.
Further, it is extremely easy to get started. All you have to do is create an account, see the text box, and start typing. Many adults who are using LLMs aren't actually paying to use them. And like the glory days of Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, venture capital is subsidizing a good chunk of the costs.
Of course, LLM use isn't free for consumers. Most of us don't see the second-order effects from the frenzied arms race that's occurring right now. Specifically, I'm talking about data center construction. From Georgia and Indiana to Virginia, tech companies have aggressively built these data centers to fulfill AI-driven compute demand.
Up to several months ago, there was relatively little opposition to data center construction. But according to a new report from Data Center Watch, from March 2025 to June 2025, an estimated $98 billion in new data center construction was obstructed and stopped.
Much of the opposition comes from one key word: affordability. As the opposition would argue, massive power demands from data centers are in-your-face negative externalities for normal, hard-working Americans (specifically, electric and water costs). In other words, they'd argue that normal Americans' electricity and water bills are skyrocketing to serve up AI-generated slop for people around the world.
And this isn't a partisan issue. We have seen politicians and community activists from both sides of the aisle protest new data center construction in their communities. Prominent Republicans (like Senator Josh Hawley and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene) haven't hesitated to speak out on the issue.
At the same time, data center construction isn't slowing down. In fact, it's accelerating. Just a few weeks ago, Meta alone stated that they would invest $600 billion in new data center construction over the next three years. While these numbers are just commitments at this point, they show that the megacap tech companies are ready to make extremely aggressive bets to win this race.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. This battle over data centers is complex and touches on so many crosscurrents in American society today. From sticky inflation to potential job loss from AI, I wouldn't be surprised to see more data center protests in the months ahead.
Whether that will actually change the overarching data center momentum is, of course, a different story.
Prompt of the Week
This prompt is less of a standalone prompt and more of something that you can use in all of your prompts. Essentially, what you want to do is ask the LLM to challenge you. You want it to ask you clarifying questions on whatever it is you're trying to do.
It may seem simple, but it's actually super effective. I've written about this before, but one of the key benefits is that it brings up hidden assumptions. All of us have our own biases and frameworks toward the world. Asking the LLM to challenge it can lead to some interesting ideas (and potential opportunities).
Therefore, don't hesitate to add this one line at the end of your prompts. You'll be surprised at how effective it can be!
"But first, pause, think hard, and ask me clarifying questions that will help you complete your task."