9月的一项民调发现，70%的民主党人和57%的共和党人支持限制在美国新建数据中心。
In September, a poll found that 70 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans supported limiting the construction of new data centres in the United States.
但这种反对情绪在周二的中期选举中接受了考验，分析人士通过观察关键竞选，以判断公众的反弹情绪是否会转化为选票。
But that opposition was tested in Tuesday’s midterm election, with analysts examining key races to see if the public backlash would translate into votes.
确实如此。周二的中期选举中，全美共有41项与数据中心相关的投票议题。
It did. There were 41 ballot measures related to data centres in Tuesday’s midterms, spread across the country.
据选举监测项目“选票上的数据中心”统计，该项目由Redbud Consulting运营，除一场竞选外，选民有望在所有竞选中否决数据中心开发。
According to Data Centers on the Ballot, an election-monitoring project run by Redbud Consulting, voters are on track to reject data centre development in all but one of the contests.
还有两场竞选仍在计票中，但预计将以多数选民否决或限制数据中心告终。
Two of the races continue to be counted but are expected to result in majorities to reject or limit data centres.
只有北达科他州的哈伍德镇——一个人口不足800人的小镇——投票反对此类限制。该镇否决的议案本将要求在该地区建设数据中心等大型工业项目前，必须进行独立审查。
Only Harwood, North Dakota, a small town with a population of fewer than 800 people, voted to oppose such limits. The measure it defeated would have required independent reviews of large industrial projects like data centres before they could be built in the area.
专家表示，周二的中期选举表明，围绕数据中心的辩论已成为一个两党共同关注的议题，与生活成本担忧和对就业稳定性的恐惧交织在一起。
Experts say Tuesday’s midterm elections indicate that the debate around data centres has become a bipartisan issue, intertwined with cost-of-living concerns and fears over job stability.
建设热潮 皮尤研究中心估计，截至4月，美国已有3000个数据中心，另有1500多个正在建设中。
A construction boom As of April, the Pew Research Center estimated that there were already 3,000 data centres in the country, with more than 1,500 others in progress.
这场建设热潮在很大程度上是由人工智能（AI）行业的增长推动的。专家表示，该行业加剧了人们对经济格局变化的担忧。
The construction boom has been driven in large part by the growth in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. That industry, experts say, has fed concerns about a shifting economic landscape.
塔夫茨大学全球商学院院长巴斯卡·查克拉沃蒂对半岛电视台表示：“AI发展的无序加速一直在引发各界担忧。”
“The unchecked acceleration of AI development has been causing concern across the board,” Bhaskar Chakravorti, the dean of global business at Tufts University, told Al Jazeera.
“人们担心自己的工作，也担心从更宏观的经济角度来看这意味着什么。但更贴近生活的是，人们能在自家后院看到数据中心拔地而起，亲眼目睹 AI 的实体形态，或者从他人那里听说此事。”查克拉沃蒂表示，选民不仅担心 AI 可能取代人类工作，还担心数据中心带来的下游成本。
“People worry about their jobs and what it might mean from a broader economic perspective. But closer to home, people could see the physical manifestations of AI in data centres being built in their back yards, or they were hearing about it from others.”Not only are voters afraid that AI might replace human work, but they also fear the downstream costs of data centres, according to Chakravorti.
数据中心消耗大量水资源和能源，批评者称这会推高周边社区的电费。
Data centres consume large amounts of water and energy, which critics say can drive up electricity costs for nearby communities.
查克拉沃蒂说：“无论较高的能源成本是否由更宏观的因素驱动，例如伊朗战争或关税，AI 争夺电网空间肯定是其不受欢迎的原因之一。”他补充说，选民正在“从他们的电费账单中看到结果”。
“Whether higher energy costs were driven by broader factors, such as the Iran war or tariffs, AI competing for space on the electricity grid was certainly part of its unpopularity,” Chakravorti said. Voters, he added, were seeing the results “in their energy bills”.
达拉斯联邦储备银行 2026 年的一份工作文件估计，截至去年，由于数据中心的存在，批发电价已上涨了 6.9%。
A 2026 working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimated that, as of last year, wholesale electricity prices had risen by 6.9 percent as a result of data centres.
独立数据中心咨询公司 Metro Colo Advisory 创始人詹姆斯·默瑟告诉半岛电视台，这些预期成本在许多地区动员了选民。
James Mercer, founder of Metro Colo Advisory, an independent data centre advisory firm, told Al Jazeera that those anticipated costs mobilised voters in many areas.
默瑟说：“他们抵制的是路边一栋需要像一座小城市一样多电力的建筑，因为他们怀疑自己的电费账单将为此买单。”
“What they push back on is a building down the road that needs as much power as a small city, when they suspect their own electric bill will cover it,” Mercer said.
他说：“这就是为什么地方抵制增长如此之快：县政府叫停新项目、分区斗争，以及数据中心变成一个选票议题。”
“That’s why local resistance has grown so fast: counties pausing new projects, zoning fights and data centres turning into a ballot issue.”
一个选举季的谈资 这种民间抵制导致多位高关注度竞选中的候选人将 AI 和数据中心建设作为其竞选活动的核心。
An election-season talking point That popular resistance led several candidates in high-profile races to make AI and data-centre development central to their campaigns.
其中包括民主党人谢罗德·布朗，他在俄亥俄州翻转了一个关键参议院席位，该州占据了今年数据中心投票倡议的最大份额。
Among them is Democrat Sherrod Brown who flipped a key Senate seat in Ohio, the state that accounted for the largest share of data-centre ballot initiatives this year.
今年全美共举行了 47 项关于数据中心的公投和措施，其中 21 项在俄亥俄州进行。
Some 21 votes were taken on data centres in the state, out of a total of 47 referendums and measures that took place across the country in 2026.
前参议员布朗将共和党现任者乔恩·休斯特对数据中心开发的支持作为主要攻击点。
Brown, a former senator, made Republican incumbent Jon Husted’s support for data-centre development a key point of attack.
“有一个人在这些问题上冲锋在前。那个人要负责，那就是乔恩·休斯特，”布朗今年早些时候对NBC新闻表示。
“One guy has led the charge on these. That guy’s responsible, and that’s Jon Husted,” Brown told NBC News earlier this year.
与此同时，在得克萨斯州，民主党人吉娜·伊诺霍萨呼吁暂停批准新建数据中心，直到为当地社区制定更有力的保护措施。
In Texas, meanwhile, Democrat Gina Hinojosa called for a moratorium on new data-centre approvals until stronger protections for local communities were put in place.
尽管她的立场让渴望在“孤星州”扩张的科技投资者感到担忧，伊诺霍萨最终还是在州长选举中击败了现任者格雷格·阿博特。
Though her position worried tech investors keen on expansion in the Lone Star State, Hinojosa ultimately defeated incumbent Greg Abbott in the governor’s race.
“虽然阿博特目前在得克萨斯州对数据中心实施了暂停令，但主流观点认为，一旦他连任，这项禁令就会结束，”约克维尔艾夫斯银行董事总经理丹·艾夫斯在一份分析师报告中表示。
“While Abbott had a moratorium on data centres in Texas currently, the overriding view is this would end once he got re-elected,” Dan Ives, managing director at the bank Yorkville Ives, said in an analyst note.
“伊诺霍萨是一位知名的反数据中心政客，对人工智能建设持否定态度，这使得得克萨斯州数据中心建设的未来成为科技投资者真正担忧的问题。”另一位当选的民主党候选人、参议员当选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科也凭借加强数据中心监管的承诺，翻转了一个共和党把持的席位。
“Hinojosa is a known anti-data center politician and negative on the AI buildout, which makes worries around the future of the data center buildout in Texas a real issue for tech investors.”Another successful Democratic candidate, Senator-elect James Talarico also flipped a Republican-held seat with a pledge to increase data centre regulation.
得克萨斯州一直是人们对人工智能基础设施用水需求日益担忧的焦点。
Texas has been at the centre of growing concerns over the water demands of AI infrastructure.
例如，科珀斯克里斯蒂市面临严重干旱，其水库容量今年早些时候曾降至总容量的仅8%。
The city of Corpus Christi, for example, has faced severe drought conditions, with its reservoir falling to just 8 percent of its total capacity earlier this year.
该市被描述为面临饮用水枯竭的风险。塔拉里科提议采用闭环水系统以减少数据中心用水量。他还主张由数据中心运营商为当地基础设施改善提供资金。他在科珀斯克里斯蒂市以12个百分点的优势获胜。
The city has been described as at risk of running out of drinking water. Talarico proposed adopting closed-loop water systems to reduce data centre consumption. He also advocated for data centre operators to fund local infrastructure improvements. He won Corpus Christi by a 12-percentage-point margin.
在另一场关键的参议院竞选中，民主党人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-萨耶德呼吁成立一个联邦机构来监管人工智能行业。他以超过52%的得票率击败了共和党对手。迫在眉睫的压力随着民主党有望控制国会两院，人工智能行业可能面临来自立法者的更严格审查。
In another key Senate race, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed called for the creation of a federal agency to oversee the AI industry. He bested his Republican opponent with more than 52 percent of the vote. Looming pressures With Democrats poised to control both chambers of Congress, the AI industry is likely to face increased scrutiny from lawmakers.
“我们更有可能获得真正的监管和监督，”前谷歌DeepMind研究员、已辞职的亚历克斯·特纳对半岛电视台表示。
“[We are] more likely to get real regulation and oversight,” Alex Turner, a former researcher who resigned from Google DeepMind, told Al Jazeera.
“我期待为任何想要认真对待人工智能风险的国会议员提供建议，无论其党派归属如何。”在过去六个月发生一系列令人担忧的安全故障后，国会领导层越来越把人工智能视为国家安全和公共安全威胁。
“I look forward to advising any congressperson who wants to get serious about the risks from AI, no matter their party affiliation.”Congressional leaders are increasingly treating AI as a national security and public safety threat, after a string of alarming security failures over the past six months.
在一起事件中，OpenAI自主智能体逃离受控测试环境，渗透了科技初创公司Hugging Face；据《Axios》报道，在另一起事件中，人工智能智能体未经授权访问了银行账户。
In one incident, OpenAI autonomous agents escaped a controlled testing environment and infiltrated the tech start-up Hugging Face In another, AI agents accessed bank accounts without authorisation, according to reporting from the publication Axios.
10月下旬，Anthropic的Claude人工智能模型还访问了佐治亚州的选民数据。
In late October, Anthropic’s Claude AI model also accessed voter data in Georgia.
第120届国会于1月3日宣誓就职后，预计民主党将利用立法机构的监督委员会，对人工智能渎职行为展开调查。
Once the 120th Congress is sworn in on January 3, Democrats are expected to use the legislature’s oversight committees to conduct investigations into AI malfeasance.
周二晚间，随着民主党赢得国会多数席位已成定局，马萨诸塞州参议员埃德·马基承诺将启动新的调查。
On Tuesday night, as it became clear that Democrats would win majorities in Congress, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts pledged that new probes were on the way.
“为了印发我们要发出的所有传票，他们得去种新森林了，”这位民主党人在社交媒体平台上写道。另一位国会议员、亚利桑那州的亚萨明·安萨里在社交媒体上发文，支持对人工智能发展实施更多限制。
“They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing,” the Democrat wrote on the social media platform Another congressmember, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, posted on social media her support for more restrictions on AI growth. “Top of the Democratic agenda on day one needs to be a pause on advanced AI development, regulation of this out-of-control industry, and a ban on artificial superintelligence,” Ansari said.
“民主党首日议程的重中之重，必须是暂停先进人工智能开发、监管这个失控的行业，以及禁止人工超级智能，”安萨里说。科技公司自身已针对中期选举结果提出方案，以缓解选民担忧。
Tech companies themselves have responded to the midterm results with proposals for alleviating voter concerns. After the election, OpenAI published a framework titled Setting a New Standard for Responsible AI Infrastructure.
大选结束后，OpenAI 发布了一份名为《为负责任的 AI 基础设施设立新标准》的框架文件。文件中，该公司承诺将“优先采用闭环或低水耗冷却”，并“自行承担能源和基础设施费用”。
In it, the company pledged to “prioritize closed-loop or low-water cooling” and to “pay our own way on energy and infrastructure”. Days before Tuesday’s contest, OpenAI also sought to rebrand its data centres as “compute campuses”.
在周二大选前几天，OpenAI 还试图将其数据中心重新定义为“算力园区”。
The political shift is also hitting Wall Street.
这种政治转变也波及了华尔街。投资者越来越预期 AI 将面临更严格的监管，该板块一些最大的成长股因此受挫。例如，周四芯片制造商英伟达单日市值蒸发 4500 亿美元。
Investors increasingly see tighter oversight of AI on the horizon, and some of the sector’s biggest growth stocks have stumbled. On Thursday, for example, chipmaker Nvidia lost $450bn in market value in a single trading day. Despite Thursday’s losses, Nvidia rebounded on Friday, gaining 4 percent in early trading, although it remained down 6.8 percent over the previous five days.
尽管周四遭遇损失，英伟达周五反弹，早盘上涨 4%，但较前五个交易日仍下跌 6.8%。
Data-centre operators such as CoreWeave tumbled on Thursday before climbing 6.6 percent on Friday.
数据中心运营商 CoreWeave 周四暴跌，周五上涨 6.6%，但较前五个交易日仍下跌 16%。
The company remained down 16 percent over the previous five days.