{"id":154380,"date":"2026-02-13T14:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154380\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:27:09","slug":"byron-donalds-acknowledges-ai-power-concerns-but-says-data-warehoused-in-florida-is-safer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154380\/","title":{"rendered":"Byron Donalds acknowledges AI power concerns, but says data warehoused in Florida is safer"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep.\u00a0Byron Donalds<\/a> agrees that artificial intelligence data centers raise questions about power prices, but says the tradeoff to ensure data is stored securely is worth it.<\/p>\n

Donalds is the chosen gubernatorial candidate of the AI sector, as evidenced by its $5 million bet on him via Leading the Future<\/a>, a super PAC launched by\u00a0OpenAI<\/a>\u00a0co-founder\u00a0Greg Brockman,\u00a08VC<\/a>\u00a0founder\u00a0Joe Lonsdale\u00a0and venture capital firm\u00a0Andreessen Horowitz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in his latest comments, he agreed that \u201cthe power generation question with AI is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving forward in the state of Florida, these data center projects are going to have to prove that they\u2019re not going to take away from the power grid, that they\u2019re not going to raise utility prices on Florida consumers,\u201d Donalds said on \u201cMornings with Maria.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to be critical in this. But we also have to have a plan of how we\u2019re going to proceed forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Donalds suggested that for Floridians concerned about data security, it makes sense to have facilities in the state rather than other states or countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know when people use their phones, or use their computers, or they\u2019re streaming shows, or they\u2019re using AI, all the search is done out of data centers. So in Florida, the question is, where do you want the data warehouse? Do you want the data warehouse in California, Northern Virginia, New York? Or do you want a warehouse in Florida? Or do you want that data warehoused overseas?\u201d<\/p>\n

Donalds said \u201cmaking sure our kids are protected, and parents are well-informed about what\u2019s happening\u201d is important, but so too is a \u201cserious strategy about how we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donalds previously made supportive comments<\/a>\u00a0about the future of AI in an appearance on\u00a0Dan Bongino\u2019s\u00a0podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe we\u2019re on the cusp of something magical happening in the next five to 10 years,\u201d Donalds said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI know the concerns about displacement, but with every change in our economy, there are always concerns about displacement. That\u2019s why we are a free market capitalist economy because the creative destruction of the market system actually leads to future job opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis<\/a> has taken a different tack, proposing an AI bill of rights.<\/p>\n

He has linked artificial intelligence to what he calls an \u201cage of darkness and deceit,\u201d one in which tech overlords are poised to displace Floridians from their jobs, siphon resources to power data centers, and impose new intellectual modalities via amoral AI. He has also voiced concerns about Chinese-created AI tools, exploitative deepfakes, the security of personal identifying information, and insurance claims written by AI programs.<\/p>\n

One of Donalds\u2019 opponents in the Republican field, former House Speaker\u00a0Paul Renner, has attempted to stake out the DeSantis AI-skeptic lane in wake of the industry supporting Donalds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pro-AI political group \u2018Leading the Future,\u2019 founded and run by a team of Chuck Schumer liberals, is now attempting to interfere in Florida\u2019s Republican primary with a $5-million ad buy to prop up Byron Donalds,\u201d Renner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am calling on Byron Donalds to immediately reject this committee\u2019s assistance, renounce his support for the massive expansion of AI data centers in Florida, and take down the \u2018For Sale\u2019 sign he has placed on our state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep.\u00a0Byron Donalds agrees that artificial intelligence data centers raise questions about power prices, but says the tradeoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2872,4038,45136,445,28,30,29,74437,7381,412],"class_list":{"0":"post-154380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence-bill-of-rights","11":"tag-byron-donalds","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-leading-the-future","16":"tag-paul-renner","17":"tag-ron-desantis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}