Mark Cuban reveals what people really hate about AI data centers
On June 25, Mark Cubanposted on X with advice for every major AI company in America. The post has drawn 1.9 million views. It covered data centers, labor displacement, artists, politicians, and money. It ended with a line about working people that multiple outlets pulled out the same day.
Cuban thinks the AI industry is losing a PR battle and has misread the reason. His argument is that the solution involves community engagement. Most tech companies have never done it.
Why Cuban says the data center fight was never about data centers
Cuban opened the post with an argument most people in the AI industry have not accepted.
"It's time for everyone to realize that the fight against data centers has nothing to do with data centers. They have become a proxy for the hate towards AI and the concentration and accumulation of wealth it's creating," he wrote
A Gallup survey from May found 71% of Americans oppose AI data centers near their communities. Nearly half said they strongly oppose them. Residents cited power use, water consumption, pollution, noise, and rising utility bills. Data Center Watch found at least 75 projects worth roughly $130 billion were blocked or delayed in Q1 2026. It was the worst quarter on record for disrupted data center developments.
More AI:
- Goldman Sachs has blunt message for AI stock investors
- Microsoft CEO sends a blunt warning on AI and the tech ecosystem
- The next AI infrastructure race has nothing to do with chips
Cuban's read is that the companies building data centers are misreading what the opposition is about. People are pushing back on what the AI boom means for their jobs and communities, he wrote. The buildings are the visible target.
What Cuban says the big AI companies are doing wrong
Cuban has been an AI enthusiast for years and said in the post that he believes the technology will produce net job gains.
The June 25 post was about how the companies building it have dealt with the public. He wrote that the major LLMs had already lost the PR battle and blamed their failure to put people first.
He compared the prevailing Silicon Valley mindset to John Galt from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the protagonist who believes civilization depends on his genius and that obligations to the public amount to coercion. Cuban said companies carrying that attitude cannot earn the trust they need to expand.
He also ruled out two responses the industry has leaned on. Explaining the benefits of AI is too late, he said. Buying political influence will not work either. Cuban told the companies directly that no amount of money spent on politicians and elections would save them, Yahoo Finance reported.
He added a third item to the list of things that will not work: celebrity endorsements. Paying famous people to back AI is dumb, he wrote. It does not address what people are actually worried about. Cuban said every creative he knows is terrified about what AI will do to their profession. Companies talking around that fear will not resolve it.
The specific strategy Cuban laid out for AI companies and data centers
Cuban laid out specific steps. He called for a community tour, with companies going directly to the towns and cities facing potential job losses, asking what would help, and then doing it. He said the communities would tell them what they need.
He singled out the creative sector with specific instructions. Go to working artists and creative unions in Los Angeles and New York and ask what support looks like. Go directly to the artists, he said, and not to the studios or music and film companies. Then fund what they ask for.
"Billions of dollars is a lot of money across towns and city programs. Across the major LLMs, it's a cost of doing business," he wrote.
Cuban called community spending a cost of expansion. Companies that skip it will keep hitting the same resistance.
He ended the post with a direct warning: AI companies that do not earn the goodwill of working people will fall far short of the capacity they need to build the data centers their business requires. The community case and the business case are the same case.
The business case behind Mark Cuban's warning to AI investors and companies
Being hated, Cuban wrote, is not good for business. The blocked projects in Q1 2026 put a number on that.
The trust problem Cuban described predates AI. According to Pew Research, 71% of Americans said tech companies had a positive impact on the country in 2015. By 2022, that number had broadly reversed after years of social media controversies, privacy scandals, and public frustration over wealth concentration.
Companies that invest in communities early face fewer permitting delays and less opposition. For investors, the argument is that the opposition risk is not fading. It is building. Companies with a genuine community strategy have a cleaner expansion path than those still spending on political lobbying and public relations that are not moving the numbers.
Cuban said he believes AI will produce net job gains in a few years. His concern is whether the industry helps people through the disruption in the meantime.
Related: A new AI bottleneck is starting to worry investors
The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
This story was originally published June 28, 2026 at 9:17 AM.