House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Monday that warnings about data centers and artificial intelligence wiping out humanity are nothing more than Chinese propaganda designed to push the United States out of the AI race.
Johnson made the remarks during an appearance on Fox Business, where anchor Cheryl Casone raised concerns that the backlash against data centers is being driven by Beijing.
“I mean, do you think that this, with regards to China — I mean, I’ve had several tech executives and lawmakers, to be clear, say that the information against data centers, that pushback against data centers — that is coming from China. They believe that,” Casone said.
Casone went on to note that Democrats have embraced the issue as a political message.
“The Democrats are seizing on this, though,” she said. “They’re making this their messaging. They’ve been very clear they’re going to take this into the midterms. How do you fight that?”
Johnson did not hold back.
“This is what Democrats do every election cycle,” the speaker said. “They find something to, you know, glom onto and say that this is doom and gloom and everyone will die if we don’t win. Don’t buy it. It is a Chinese psyop. I really believe that. It’s not a conspiracy theory. I think they’re pushing those ideas.”
Johnson is not alone in sounding the alarm about Beijing’s role in the debate.
The conservative Heritage Foundation reported that “CCP-linked actors have aggressively amplified anti-data center voices in America, even as Beijing generously subsidizes China’s own…data center construction.”
The think tank urged leaders across the country to take action.
“It’s time for policymakers at all levels of leadership to cultivate awareness and craft policies to counteract Chinese anti-American tech narratives,” Heritage warned.
President Donald Trump has taken a similar stance, repeatedly calling the AI doomsday scenario a “hoax” intended to stifle American innovation and hand China the lead in the AI race.
The president made his position clear in a post on Truth Social.
“AI, and Data Centers, will be the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History — Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet. It will not be stopped by brilliantly run Destructive Forces during the Term of President DONALD J. TRUMP!” Trump wrote.
AI data centers have become a source of controversy because they occupy large amounts of space and require significant amounts of electricity and water to keep their chips from overheating.
Some prominent voices in the U.S. tech industry have also raised concerns about the technology itself. Tech executives including Bill Gates and Dario Amodei have warned that AI is advancing too quickly and should be regulated before it reaches a point where humans can no longer stop it.
Still, Johnson made clear he believes voters should reject the doom-and-gloom messaging, which he argued Democrats plan to carry into the midterm elections.
With Democrats signaling they will make the issue part of their campaign pitch, the speaker’s message to Americans was simple: “Don’t buy it.”
The clash sets up AI and data centers as a political flashpoint heading into the midterms, with Republican leaders framing the fight as part of the broader competition with China over who will lead the world in artificial intelligence.
