Parents are also sounding the alarm. Lawsuits alleging that chatbots drove teens to suicide or self-harm are piling up. In some cities, parents are signing petitions to demand a two-year moratorium on AI in schools.
Some of the pushback is shaping policy. In New York and California, new rules have put safeguards on AI companionship bots. Meanwhile, artists are winning small battles to protect copyright laws. In March, the UK government backtracked on plans to let AI companies train AI models on copyrighted content without permission after fierce blowback from artists.
But some of the sharpest resistance is coming from communities where data centers are built, fueled by concerns that these facilities are driving up utility bills, creating pollution, and consuming rural land. In the US, activists stalled $98 billion in data center development in the second quarter of 2025. In response, President Trump secured a pledge from AI company executives in March to cover the energy costs created by their data centers by building or buying from new power plants.
People want to have a say in how AI transforms their future. And they’re starting to create small cracks in AI labs’ vision for the future.