A group backed by major artificial intelligence investors is launching a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin aimed at shaping how state and local governments regulate the fast-growing data center industry.
Build American AI announced Monday that it will spend heavily on ads, research and grassroots outreach across the three states. The campaign is meant to build public support for data centers while also pushing state and local officials toward specific rules on how the facilities get built and operated.
According to a news release from the group, the effort “will combine paid advertising, grassroots engagement, research, earned media and public education to build support for responsible AI infrastructure policies while highlighting the economic opportunities data centers can bring to communities that choose to welcome them.”
The group also said it plans to counter criticism of specific projects. The release stated the campaign “will raise awareness of and counter misinformation seeking to undermine local decision making, investment and job creation, or that attacks projects on disingenuous grounds.”
A New Political Arm
Alongside the ad campaign, Build American AI is launching a political organization called Building the Future, which will back candidates in the November elections and future races. The group said it wants to support candidates who favor “responsible policies that strengthen and protect communities, preserve water resources, and prevent rate hikes on electricity bills, while ensuring American leadership in AI and creating good-paying jobs for American workers.”
Build American AI said any policies it backs “should set the bar for responsible development: protecting residential ratepayers, safeguarding the environment and water resources, requiring developers to pay their fair share, and preserving the right of every community to decide whether it wants to welcome data center investment.”
The group framed its broader mission this way: “America should build the infrastructure needed to lead the world in artificial intelligence and low-cost energy production, but it should do so with accountability to protect families, communities and the environment.”
Who Is Funding It
Build American AI has roughly $50 million in cash on hand. Its financial backers include OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, his wife Anna Brockman, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and its founders. The effort is connected to Leading the Future, described as the leading pro-AI super PAC active in the 2026 election cycle.
Leading the Future issued its own statement backing the campaign, saying “similar principles apply to the infrastructure that powers AI” and cautioning against letting a small number of critics control the debate. The group said “the stakes are too high to allow the loudest and most extreme voices to dictate America’s future.”
What Comes Next
Build American AI said it plans to expand the campaign into additional states over the next year, with an eye toward the 2026 midterm elections and state legislative sessions in 2027. For residents of Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin, that likely means more ads, public meetings and political spending focused on data centers in the months ahead, as debates continue over electricity rates, water use and local control over new construction.
