The One AI Conspiracy That’s More Than a Theory

Having written a few books on genuine conspiracies, I have a keen eye for the counterfeit. Many such theories string a few anomalies together and call it a day. What gives a conspiracy theory credibility is an identifiable logic, what lawyers might call a viable “theory of the case.” By this standard, the conspiracy to stop the construction of new data centers is the real deal.

The anti-data center movement is a rather sudden phenomenon. A few years ago, most Americans did not even know what a data center was, let alone if there was one in their neighborhood. Now some 70 percent of American people oppose them, many of the opponents hysterically.

Much of the opposition is predictable. Networks of left-leaning environmental advocacy outfits—including groups like the Sierra Club and 350.org—have helped coordinate local protests and called for national moratoriums. 

Opportunistic politicians have seized on the unease and made opposition to data centers an instant issue, often when no other issue was working. Democrats have taken the lead in this tactic, but Republicans have too often followed suit. If we have to sacrifice the future of the world to attract a few more voters, the pols reason, so be it.

Opponents of all stripes argue that data centers use too much water and power and cause noise pollution. These are all fair arguments, but one wonders where these opponents were when we green lit a massive environmental blight across much of Kansas and stretches of Missouri.

Driving recently through greater Salina, I could not help but be struck by the fields of wind turbines disfiguring the landscape and polluting the aural environment as well. Each turbine is a factory in and of itself, weighing as much as 400 tons. A single blade runs twice the length of a basketball court and weighs up to 35 tons.

Each of these turbines contains its own data center of sorts, the central unit that houses the generator, gearbox and other essential functions. On its own, that unit weighs 100 or so. The Smoky Hill Wind Farm alone has more than 150 such monstrosities covering some 30 square miles in Lincoln and Ellsworth counties.

Like many American wind farms, the real owners of Smoky Hill are foreign, in this case the Italian multinational energy company Enel Group. When the project began in 2008, Enel CEO Fulvio Conti claimed, somewhat awkwardly, that “we continue to deliver in our plan to abate CO2 emissions, one of the most advanced in the world.” 

One of the most advanced what, Fulvio? Not to be too cynical, but something tells me Mr. Conti sized up Kansas much the way Professor Harold Hill sized up River City, Iowa.

No one who lives near a wind farm can be happy about what happened to their neighborhood, but these neighbors have largely been browbeaten into accepting them. And yes, of course, the Sierra Club and other advocacy groups have been keen on seeing these landscape ravagers go forth and ravage. Their stated agenda is saving the world, however ugly the saving.

Now, let’s get to the conspiratorial part. China has always liked wind turbines. They produce at least two-thirds of the turbines used globally. For political reasons, groups doing business in America have shied from buying directly from China—most of Enel’s sources are European—but the demand from America has kept the price up for Chinese turbines. As far as conspiracies go, this one is not very interesting.

China also produces materials and components used for data centers, including American data centers. In fact, the material for our data centers comes from all over the world, with much of the manufacturing done in South Korea and Taiwan. 

On the subject of AI, however, the issue is not market dominance but world dominance. Today, U.S.-based data centers and tech giants control an estimated 75 percent of global AI computing capacity. The U.S. commands an even higher percentage of global private AI capital. 

China, meanwhile, controls an estimated 10 to 15 percent. Its leaders know that as AI evolves, whichever country controls the AI market controls the world, not just economically but militarily as well. You don’t need a tin-foil hat to suspect that China would use its collective wiles to sabotage American development. Hard to blame them.

In the world of artificial intelligence, it is not easy for conspirators to cover their tracks. In June 2026, the left-leaning Politico highlighted the results of a report by OpenAI. As Politico noted, “China was likely behind an online influence operation to sway U.S. perceptions of artificial intelligence technology and reshape the debate in Washington around the infrastructure needed to support it.”

The campaign dubbed “Data Center Bandwagon” created fake American social media personas who argued that data centers would dramatically increase electricity and water bills, create noise pollution, and risk overloading the grid to the point of blackout. The investigation traced the subversive activity to a private Chinese technology company working for provincial government clients.

OpenAI’s threat intelligence team took the concrete step of banning multiple ChatGPT accounts. These accounts produced a steady stream of content designed to turn Americans against building the data centers necessary for AI development.

China could make little headway on such a scheme had it not secured willing collaborators in the United States. As Politico observed, “The report’s findings are likely to fuel claims made by Republicans and others pro-AI voices that foreign entities have tried to meddle in the debate over AI data centers.”

We have been sold alternative energy, however impractical and unseemly, under the pretext that if we fail to act, the world will melt. As we’ve seen, however, the due date on Armageddon keeps getting pushed back. It is measured now in decades, even centuries. If the Chinese gain the upper hand, the due date on an AI Armageddon could be measured in years.