US lawmakers push for pause in data centres until AI safeguards in place

twitterwhatsappcopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoSenator Bernie Sanders, left, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez hold a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, the US on March 25, 2026 [J Scott Applewhite/AP Photo]By John PowerPublished On 26 Mar 202626 Mar 2026Two progressive lawmakers in the United States are pushing for a moratorium on new AI data centres to ensure the rapidly-advancing technology does not threaten the “future of humanity”.

The legislation unveiled by Senator Bernie Sanders and House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday would pause the construction of data centres until the introduction of national safeguards to protect workers’ livelihoods, civil liberties and the environment.

Sanders, an independent who represents the state of Vermont, said a moratorium was needed as lawmakers were “way behind” in their understanding of AI.

“Bottom line: We cannot sit back and allow a handful of billionaire Big Tech oligarchs to make decisions that will reshape our economy, our democracy and the future of humanity,” Sanders said.

“We need serious public debate and democratic oversight over this enormously consequential issue. The time for action is now. We need a federal moratorium on AI data centres,” he said.

Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who represents New York, said the lack of national legislation regulating AI had already led to harms ranging from mass government surveillance to the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes of women and children.

“Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses to our society,” she said.

“We must choose humanity over profit.”

The proposed legislation comes amid a growing grassroots backlash to the rollout of data centres, which consume huge amounts of water and electricity, in communities across the US.

At least 36 data centres were blocked or delayed in the US between May 2024 and June 2025, disrupting $162bn in investment, according to Data Center Watch, a research project by AI security company 10a Labs.

Opposition to the projects, much of it driven by concerns about rising electricity prices and environmental harms, has cut across partisan lines, spanning Republican and Democratic-led states including Virginia, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri and Oregon.

In an opinion poll published by NBC News earlier this month, 57 percent of registered US voters said they believed the risks from AI outweighed the benefits, compared with 34 percent who felt the opposite.

Just 26 percent of voters said they felt positively about AI, compared with 46 percent who had negative views, according to the poll.

The Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez bill nonetheless faces an uphill battle in the US Congress, where Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and even Democrats are divided on how to regulate AI.

Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who represents Pennsylvania, on Wednesday dismissed the proposed moratorium, calling it “China First”.

“The emerging chassis of AI must be built by America. We can put appropriate guardrails in place without handing the win on AI to China,” Fetterman said.

US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has championed a light-touch approach to regulating AI, last week released a long-awaited national AI framework that laid out recommendations for legislation at the national level.

The four-page document called on lawmakers to remove barriers to innovation and accelerate the deployment of AI, while implementing measures to protect children, control electricity prices, and uphold intellectual property rights and freedom of speech.