Only a small fraction of data center opponents actually live near one, according to new polling by a consulting firm that counsels leading AI labs and tech startups.

Why it matters: The findings by Milltown Partners, shared first with Axios, highlight how data centers have become a stand-in for broader anger at an AI future many Americans don't want but fear they'll have to pay for.

By the numbers: The public is still divided on data centers, with direct opposition not yet a majority view. But nearly half of respondents support a temporary construction ban, according to Milltown's findings.

• 38% of respondents said they would support a data center being built near their home, while 34% would oppose it.
• Meanwhile, 49% say they support a moratorium on construction of new data centers, while only 16% oppose a moratorium.
• Another 27% neither support nor oppose a moratorium and 8% say they don't know.
• Most opposition to data centers isn't coming from neighbors. Only 8% of the respondents who oppose data centers say they know of one or more data centers near their home, the poll found.

Between the lines: The split suggests many voters aren't categorically anti-data center, but they are wary of the pace and terms of the buildout.

• A temporary moratorium could be a way to force companies and policymakers to answer questions about costs, water use and who benefits.

Threat level: Both Steve Bannon on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left have attacked AI as a threat to working people.

• "This isn't happening in a vacuum. The AI transformation is arriving at a time when Americans already feel angry, insecure and pessimistic," Milltown Partners researcher Tom Brookes says.
• Humans First, a conservative organization that says it is fighting for an "America First AI policy," is planning a "Nationwide Day of Protest" against what it describes as the "unchecked expansion of AI data centers" on July 18, Ashley Gold reports.

Context: Pew Research Center also found in an April poll that living near an existing or planned data center doesn't have much effect on Americans' views of the facilities.

What they're saying: Warnings from tech leaders that AI will bring mass job loss are handing critics more ammunition.

• If unemployment moves by two percentage points and people think this is caused by AI, we will see a "real populist backlash," Andy Hall, professor at Stanford's graduate school of business and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, wrote on X last month.

The industry's response: Nvidia says one of the biggest complaints about data centers — water use — could become much less of a problem, Axios' Amy Harder writes.

• The company unveiled a new cooling system that it says can dramatically reduce the amount of water and energy needed to run AI data centers.

The intrigue: The backlash is hitting just as tech companies look for new ways to staff their data centers, at least temporarily.

• "People are building massive scale data centers everywhere and they're facing a severe labor shortage. That's the gap we want to fill," Zhou Xian, co-founder and CEO of Genesis AI, tells Axios.
• But not always with humans. Genesis AI just launched a new general-purpose robot built to move in complex environments, like data centers.

The fine print: Milltown Partners, a global public affairs and communications firm, surveyed 6,872 registered voters between May 10 and May 20 recruited from online panels. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

• The polling oversampled voters in Texas, Georgia, Michigan, California, and North Carolina — states with current data center projects.

The bottom line: The massive windowless warehouses packed with computing infrastructure have become a physical symbol of wider AI anxiety.

President Trump reached the point of viewing Anthropic as a national security threat, he said in an exclusive interview for "The Axios Show," though he signaled that relations have improved since.

Why it matters: National security concerns and personality clashes landed AI heavyweight Anthropic in the middle of a government crackdown with domestic and international repercussions.

• Between the Commerce Department's imposition of sweeping export controls and the Pentagon's designating it a supply chain risk, the company has faced treatment typically reserved for foreign adversaries.

What they're saying: Axios' Marc Caputo asked Trump in a wide-ranging White House interview if he viewed Anthropic, or CEO Dario Amodei, as a threat to national security.

• "Well, not now, but a week ago, maybe," the president said.
• But he said he walked away from the G7 summit with the impression that Amodei was "nice" and "smart."
• "He responded to us very quickly because you know it's a tremendous liability," Trump said. "People get put in prison immediately for that. You can't play games with that. And he responded very responsibly, I thought."

Catch up quick: Trump and Anthropic are now reportedly working on standards to evaluate AI jailbreaks.

• For Anthropic, it's been a matter of learning how to communicate with the administration as much as reaching an understanding on how the technology works.

Yes, but: Trump did not rule out leveraging emergency powers under the Defense Production Act if the AI lab did not get in line, as was previously threatened during a dispute with the Pentagon.

• "I have the power to use a lot of things," Trump said of the DPA. "But I'm not sure I have to do that."
• "It was a competitor and a part owner that turned Anthropic in. They didn't like what they were doing. They were very concerned," Trump said of the concerns raised by Amazon. "I think so far it's been very responsible."

For the record: "We are grateful to the administration for their ongoing partnership in working to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible," Anthropic said in a statement.

Between the lines: The race to beat China on AI still outweighs the political clashes with Anthropic or its peers, in Trump's view.

Keep reading.

Watch "The Axios Show" here.

It was a historic, even jarring, scene that captures a once-unimaginable geopolitical ordering. The world's most powerful heads of state gathered in the French Alps this week for the annual G7 summit, with the CEOs of America's dominant AI companies seated and treated like heads of nation-states themselves.

Why it matters: This is the future many leaders and AI CEOs envision — heads of state and the masters of tech in constant discussion, and sometimes conflict, over who controls AI, its rules, and its application to governing and world security.

Think of Anthropic vs. Trump as merely a small test run of this dynamic, with governments battling private companies over their products' threat to U.S. or global security.

• AI CEOs sat around the table with leaders of the world's democracies, treated as peers. The companies, creating the world's future economy and security infrastructure, are now the equivalent of nation-states.

Keep reading.

• OpenAI signed one of its largest-ever corporate deployment deals, with Samsung Electronics providing Codex and ChatGPT to all employees in Korea and all global employees of its Device eXperience division.
• Students are turning to a new crop of tech tools to disguise the fact they are using chatbots to write their papers. (NYT)
• States are increasingly deploying AI tools to help manage social safety net programs with few safeguards. (Axios)
• Stock-photo giant Getty will now allow OpenAI to display its images in ChatGPT search. The company's statement did not disclose deal specifics or say whether OpenAI will pay Getty for permission to train AI models on Getty images. (Bloomberg)

Lego sent over some of its World Cup sets, and I have been building while I watch the action.

GIF: Ina Fried via Giphy