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President Donald Trump said that Americans living in a community with a data center could receive a "dividend," adding that residents will benefit "greatly" from the centers, while speaking with reporters on Tuesday. The president has touted artificial intelligence in the past and even rebranded it "super intelligence" on Tuesday, saying that AI is a "fake word." The administration has been an advocate for states and communities to welcome the centers as well as pushing for the U.S. to grow its capabilities on artificial intelligence. "The people are going to benefit directly, whether its teachers that get paid a bonus, whether its people that live in the community that get paid a dividend you could call it a dividend because a dividend sounds right, they are going to greatly benefit by what's happened," Trump said in part.
"Data centers are bringing in a tremendous amount of money into the community, and the people now are going to benefit directly," the president added. Trump has previously floated the idea of Americans getting dividend checks, most recently during the RNC Midterm Convention . He suggested that people would benefit if Republicans secured the majority during the midterm elections because of possible economic prosperity.
The White House referred Newsweek to Trump's remarks when reached for comment Tuesday evening. What To Know Trump's comments come as Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon and other lawmakers have questioned or floated ideas for distributing funds to communities impacted by data centers. "Do we do what they do in Alaska, which is like, they give dividends to people who are impacted by the pipeline?" Nixon told Newsweek last week in a wide-ranging interview.
"Do we do the same thing for the now existing AI data centers?" Similar ideas have been suggested by other lawmakers including Independent Senator Bernie Sanders , for Americans to receive payments via a federally managed “AI sovereign wealth fund." AI and data centers have been somewhat of a flashpoint during the lead up to the midterms, as lawmakers have more and more vocalized their position on the potential dangers or advantages of the technology. Trump has been an avid supporter of data center growth arguing that communities rejecting the centers risk economic stagnancy, saying the projects can bring jobs and lower taxes. The president also announced the launch of America.gov on Tuesday, in what the administration frames as a new AI -powered portal to federal services and information.
The site is aimed at streamlining the public's interactions with the U.S. government. Craig Agranoff, political professor at Florida Atlantic University told Newsweek on Tuesday in part, "Trump wants data centers built here, not overseas, and local backlash is now the biggest speed bump." "Talking about dividends for host communities is a way to sell that buildout to voters who see higher power bills and no direct benefit. The midterm $5,000 check was a national campaign pitch.
This is a narrower pitch aimed at towns that can stop projects. There is a real economic idea underneath it, sharing tax revenue or company payouts with neighbors, but the timing and the word dividend tell you he is also trying to turn a land use fight into a pocketbook message," Agranoff added. "Being pro data centers and promising checks to the people who live next to them is how he tries to keep both the industry and the electorate on side," Agranoff concluded. ...
Tech Leaders Convene at White House Meanwhile, the president hosted numerous leaders in technology on Tuesday including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora and Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner. The meeting occurred alongside the launch of America.gov and comes on the heels of a state dinner to honor Chinese President Xi Jinping last week where numerous tech leaders attended. Industry leader Bill Gates also recently warned in part that AI could certainly be powerful enough " to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths." Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story.
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Source: Newsweek
