If the people building massive AI data centers were hoping nobody important would start asking questions, well… Erin Brockovich has entered the chat.

The environmental activist famous for taking on Pacific Gas & Electric – and whose story was immortalized by Julia Roberts in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich – has now turned her attention to the rapidly expanding data center industry, particularly the secrecy surrounding projects popping up across the country.

Brockovich launched an online mapping project this spring after asking Americans to report concerns about data centers in their communities. The response was hardly a trickle. Her map has now collected more than 9,000 reports involving everything from electricity and water use to enormous footprints and economic impacts.

But the issue Brockovich keeps coming back to is transparency.

Residents have reported learning about projects after permits were secured or construction was underway, while some local officials have signed nondisclosure agreements connected to proposed developments. Brockovich says communities deserve a seat at the table before the bulldozers arrive.

And apparently people are listening. TIME just named Brockovich to its TIME100 AI 2026 list of the innovators, leaders, and thinkers reshaping the world through groundbreaking advances in artificial intelligence for her data center activism.

If the data center industry was already struggling to keep a low profile, Brockovich’s involvement is unlikely to help. With thousands of complaints now plotted on a national map, an issue that was once largely confined to zoning meetings and local government agendas is getting a much bigger audience.