This map tracks 4,000 AI data centers being built—and reveals where the biggest boom is

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has launched a crowdsourced map that tracks more than 4,000 major AI data centers across the United States.

The Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting website aims to give the public “a platform to speak up and voice concerns about AI data centers in their communities” by naming where they are “already operating, under construction, rumored or proposed projects . . . focusing on locations where communities are actively voicing concerns.”

“The RACE to build AI infrastructures is unfolding town by town across America,” Brockovich said on the website. “In some places, data centers are welcomed. In others, they are delayed, contested or abandoned altogether. This MAP captures the real-world footprint of that race—revealing patterns of growth, conflict and uncertainty.”

Brockovich rose to fame after actor Julia Roberts played her in the 2000 movie Erin Brockovich, based on the activist’s relentless attempts to help a small California community hold the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) accountable for polluting the local water supply. That work eventually led to a class-action lawsuit settlement of $333 million on behalf of the affected plaintiffs.

Scientists and community activists argue that massive data centers, needed to power Big Tech’s AI boom, create a whole host of problems that drain local communities by raising energy demand and utility bills, tapping water supplies, and polluting the environment. They also argue that the data centers are disproportionately located in lower-income areas.

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