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Donald Trump told leading AI companies they need “PR help”, as they gathered in the White House in an effort to combat a growing backlash against the rapid rollout of data centres that power the technology.
The US president was speaking to leaders of Google, Microsoft, xAI and Meta at the signing of a pledge that commits large tech companies to shoulder the energy costs of AI infrastructure.
Trump acknowledged that many data centres had been “rejected by communities” who fear they will increase energy prices.
“People think that if a data centre goes [in], their electricity prices are going to go up,” Trump said, before adding: “It won’t happen any more.”
The pledge, signed by Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon, commits companies to “build, bring or buy new-generation capacity for data centres and pay the full cost of infrastructure upgrades required to support their operations”.
It comes after Republican strategists have privately warned the administration that voters could punish the party in the upcoming midterm elections if more is not done to assuage fears over the rapid rollout of artificial intelligence and the construction of data centres.
Data centres in Republican strongholds have been stalled by locals in recent months over concerns about rising energy costs, environmental effects and the strain on local infrastructure.
Republican legislators in Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma, among other red states, have suggested pausing data centre construction or banning it altogether. Florida governor Ron DeSantis, seen as a contender to clinch the Republican nomination for president in 2028, has backed several bills to increase regulation of the technology.
In recent weeks, Trump himself has sought to calm concerns over AI. “Many Americans are also concerned that energy demand from AI data centres could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills,” Trump said in his State of the Union address last month. “We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.”
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Under the pledge unveiled on Wednesday, companies also agreed to invest more in the communities in which they build data centres, hire local people and provide AI training.
The pledge is not binding and does not amount to a legal commitment. But the administration said it was confident that tech groups would adhere to the arrangements.
“All of these companies require lots of government approval to build these very large facilities,” a senior US official told reporters ahead of the event on Wednesday. “We’re not worried about people going rogue or cowboy on it.”
Additionally, “there will be an expectation” from local communities that companies will meet what they have pledged, another official said. “So there’ll be a lot of accountability there.”
Several states have already proposed or passed their own bills regulating the energy use of data centres, while companies including Microsoft previously announced commitments similar to those contained in the pledge.
“The ratepayer pledge ensures families aren’t the ones footing the bill for AI’s energy consumption,” recently appointed Meta president Dina Powell McCormick said. “The pledge gives companies like Meta the certainty we need to keep up the momentum.”
Powell McCormick, who was at the White House event, is a former Trump official and married to Republican senator Dave McCormick.