Tea Party Organizer Launches Cross-Country Campaign to Oppose AI Data Center Expansion

Amy Kremer, a prominent Tea Party organizer and chair of the group Humans First, is spearheading a nationwide bus tour to mobilize opposition against the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers across America. The campaign, titled the “Data Center Revolt,” will commence Sept. 12 in Austin, Texas, and traverse the South and Eastern seaboard before concluding in Silicon Valley, with stops including Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia.

Kremer contends that major technology corporations are bypassing community input while forcing residents to absorb the financial burden of necessary infrastructure improvements. She characterized the effort as similar to the grassroots fervor that defined the Tea Party movement, framing data center opposition as ordinary citizens demanding accountability from corporate interests and their government allies.

Humans First, which positions itself as a grassroots network of residents concerned about the pace of AI infrastructure development, is not advocating for a federal moratorium or blanket state bans on data centers. Instead, the organization is pressing for enhanced local transparency, community representation in decision-making processes, and an end to non-disclosure agreements and corporate subsidies that shift costs to taxpayers.

Kremer pointed to Festus, Missouri, as evidence of public sentiment, where voters in April removed four incumbent city council members who had voted to advance a proposed $6 billion data center project. She argued that ordinary citizens lack meaningful participation in decisions affecting electricity rates, water usage, land use and overall quality of life in their communities.

The organization’s origins have attracted scrutiny from critics who question its actual backing and ideological motivations. An investigative report published in March by The Dossier revealed that Humans First was incorporated in January by Oliver Zhang and Arunim Agarwal, both staff members at the Center for AI Safety in San Francisco, an organization that has received substantial funding from Open Philanthropy, founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.

The report alleged that Humans First presented itself as a bipartisan grassroots movement while actually being “constructed by the Effective Altruist left” to advance progressive policy objectives. A separate Fox News Digital investigation in July found that several local organizers behind a July 18 Humans First protest possessed left-wing, Green Party or Democratic Party affiliations.

When Kremer assumed leadership in April, the organization announced a shift toward conservative activism and distanced itself from its origins. Kremer stated that Humans First is now an independent conservative organization with its own leadership and strategy, receiving only an initial startup loan from CAIS that is being repaid and declining funding from Open Philanthropy.

Kremer criticized the notion that advancing American technological dominance over China requires offering unrestricted corporate concessions. She noted that U.S. data centers remain dependent on Chinese lithium batteries and referenced reporting showing that OpenAI and Google have provided AI model access to Chinese subsidiaries of firms on the Pentagon’s military blacklist, though such transactions are reportedly legal.

The White House released an AI action plan approximately one year ago containing over 90 federal actions intended to accelerate data center construction and streamline permitting processes. In March 2026, the administration introduced a voluntary “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” asking AI companies and utilities to absorb infrastructure and electricity generation costs rather than passing expenses to local residents.

A White House official stated that President Trump is “cementing American AI dominance over China while ensuring data centers pay for their own power, water, and other utilities.” The administration has said it has brought more than 200 additional utilities, data center developers, cooperatives and states into the pledge commitment as of July.

Kremer maintained that technological advancement, national security interests and community protections are not mutually exclusive objectives. She called on lawmakers to establish stricter regulations on major technology companies to safeguard consumers and warned that ignoring this growing movement would be politically unwise.

Recent reports have also alleged foreign involvement in anti-data center activism. A May report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute claimed that nonprofits funded by pro-Chinese Communist Party technology entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, including CodePink, have coordinated opposition to U.S. AI infrastructure expansion in concert with Chinese propaganda and foreign-funded activist networks.