Conor here: It’s funny how the supposed competition with China never leads to, I don’t know, say high speed rail in the US.
China’s high-speed rail system is a true 8th wonder of the World. pic.twitter.com/Q9ixsXyxV6
— JR Urbane Network (@JRUrbaneNetwork) July 12, 2026
By Mitch Jones, executive director of policy and affairs at Food & Water Watch. Cross posted from Common Dreams.
As Big Tech races to build water-intensive data centers, hungry for the power of its artificial intelligence, talk of the “AI race” between the United States and China has entered public discourse. Pundits, politicians, and the media have all joined the tech giants in selling this narrative. And it gives Big Tech and its political handmaidens a license to corrupt our communities, manipulate our every action (both online and through AI-driven surveillance), and steal a wealth of human information for private gain.
But the idea of an AI race between China and the US is not based on reality. The researchers, companies, and governments supporting the development of AI in China and the US are pursuing completely different goals.
US discourse assumes that achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI)—computers that mimic human consciousness—would be so important and disruptive to the world that this should clearly be the goal of anyone pursuing AI development. But that is not the main goal of China’s AI development. And a race where competitors run towards different finish lines is not a race.
If we allow the myth of the AI race with China to give Big Tech free rein, we are facing a more polluted, less equal world.
A Race Doesn’t Have Two Different Finish Lines
While the US focuses on general artificial intelligence (AGI) powered by large language models (LLMs), Chinese engineers focus on AI embedded in products. ChatGPT vs. Robots.
Yes, China is developing LLMs, though mostly in an open source manner as opposed to the for-profit competition in the US. Recent news reports that China is “catching up” to the US in LLM development. Indeed, the latest Chinese model surpasses the leading US models. But this is not proof of LLM-AGI race. Instead, it shows that without making AGI more mainstream, China is able to make its own models almost as quickly as US companies.
In addition, the development of LLM in China is in line with the country’s real goal of AI. Its focus remains on products embedded with AI and robotics. Or, as AI policy researcher Liang Zheng said, in China, “The priority is to use it for the benefit of ordinary people” (which is debatable, but it shows the type of AI they are after).
In the US, the first priority is to exploit the people so that the tech oligarchs can make a profit. It’s chatbots all the way down.
This is not to argue that China is doing “right” and the US is doing “wrong.” Either way will lead to a future where citizens are powerless. When work becomes very scarce and unprofitable for many people. And when a few billionaires grow richer and more powerful.
But the arguments put forth to support the destructive growth of hyperscale data centers are based on unreliability. There is no need to “beat China.” China and the US run on different tracks, in different races, with different finish lines.
These two different approaches also explain the staggering scale of data center attacks we are currently facing. Large hyperscale data centers—the latest proposals would demand 5 gigawatts, enough electricity to power about 3.75 million US homes—are only “necessary” because the US is rushing to AGI. Meanwhile, the integrated AI that dominates China does not require the same amount of computing power.
The truth is, we don’t need hyperscale data centers to “beat China.” We are not running in China. We are killing ourselves so that Silicon Valley can run.
Stop Big Tech Using the “AI Race” to Build Data Centers
However, the story of the “AI race” is a convenient lie for Big Tech and its political defenders. It is a pure political argument designed to insulate the industry from criticism and regulation.
If every environmental review, every question raised by the public, every issue about water use and electricity prices can be dismissed or discounted as “helping China,” then meaningful political debate can be silenced. Actual legislation—if possible—can be avoided. Fear is replacing policy.
At the same time, data center developers and their supporters in Washington have tried to arm false claims about foreign relations with the anti-data center movement. Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame made it clear that our organization is funded by China. He has no evidence because false evidence does not exist. In fact, Fox News was forced to retract its coverage of his claims.
We understand why O’Leary and other Tech Broligarchs don’t understand the deep opposition to building data centers around the country. It’s hard to see the low grades from the window of a private plane. But the opposition is real and real, and no amount of disinformation and pushing an “AI vs. China” race will derail the movement.
Big Tech is Selling Us a Dystopian Future
The myth of the AI race with China threatens to plunge us into a Big Tech vision of the future—more unequal than ever. Yes, the tech leaders suggested that their algorithms would cure cancer, but their real goal was also to increase their power and wealth at the expense of the rest of us.
As American Tech Broligarchs have distanced themselves from earlier prophecies of widespread job losses, their vision of the future will see most of us out of meaningful work. We will be less than alive with any small gifts created in an attempt to defile us.
At the same time, our movements will be tracked whether or not we use the electronic gadgets they sell us. Already, AI-connected surveillance devices can recognize our faces, record our license plates, and report our movements. Companies and governments can buy this data to track us.
Meanwhile, “surveillance pricing” allows companies to change prices on the fly so they can take advantage of our needs for their own profit. Deepfake videos have already added to the fast-eroding credibility of a world that is often shared and the set of basic truths necessary for a functioning democracy. And this is just scratching the surface.
Even if there was an AI race, is it worth running, let alone winning, if the prize is a dystopian future of great misery with a thin layer of rich professional oligarchs at the top?
Big Tech’s Dystopian Vision Is Inevitable
But we must be clear. This dystopian vision is not the inevitable result of unstoppable technological “progress” as the Tech Broligarchs would have us believe. Every decision made to develop AI is a political decision. And, for now, we still have the power to decide our political future.
Across the country, there is growing resistance to the nightmare being shoved down our throats. Communities are coming together to fight the spread of destructive hyperscale data centers. Already in 2026, more than 130 billion proposed data center projects have been defeated and canceled.
Communities are taking control of their future by setting up new data centers. New York enacted a one-year moratorium on new institutions, and there is growing support for a moratorium in Congress.
We are not destined to live in Elon Musk’s fever dream. We have the power to stop him and his fellow Broligarchs. When we plan, we win. That is the real “AI race”. Not China versus the US, but us versus Big Tech. That’s not just a race to run—it’s one to win.
