Americans want artificial intelligence. They want data but they don’t want data centers because they also come with very loud industrial noise, enormous electricity demands, and massive water consumption – making for some very unhappy folks all over the country.

Communities across the United States are discovering that the massive data centers powering AI and the digital economy can be considerably less exciting when they move in right next door.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, Virginia residents near data centers are miserable, complaining about relentless humming and mechanical noise from cooling equipment, fans and generators. Also according to the report, the state has the highest number of data centers: 641.

Some residents have even resorted to trying to soundproof their homes just to get some peace and quiet. Others in Virginia are fighting against data centers being proposed in their communities. But Virginia is hardly alone.

Communities nationwide are pushing back over water consumption, electricity demand, pollution concerns, infrastructure costs and the noise that the data centers produce.

Neighbors have put mattresses and plexiglass up in their windows to block the noise from this data center in Virginia.
It’s a high pitched whine from the natural gas turbines that power it.
The noise never stops 24/7. pic.twitter.com/rggAK8563F

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) June 19, 2026

🦔Turn your sound on for this one. This is what it sounds like to live next to an AI data center, 24 hours a day. In Dowagiac, Michigan, residents sued after a facility run by Hyperscale Data ran around the clock at 78 decibels outside their homes. The company offered to buy… pic.twitter.com/erztJ90ZEU

— Hedgie (@HedgieMarkets) July 30, 2026

So, yes, AI may someday help solve some of humanity’s biggest problems. But first, somebody might want to solve the much more immediate problem of where to put the massive, noisy, power-hungry facilities that make it possible.

One obvious starting point: stop planting them next to neighborhoods. Put them in appropriate industrial or remote areas, require reasonable noise and environmental safeguards, and make sure communities aren’t stuck paying the price for everyone else’s AI ambitions.