Saline, Michigan, can be generously described as just “outside of Ann Arbor.” In May, lame duck Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer joined OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the groundbreaking of a $16 billion data center that Saline (population 2,272) did not want. The previous fall, the township board rejected the proposal—which listed Oracle and developer Related Companies as collaborators—but was subsequently sued and forced to settle; construction was allowed to proceed. A photo of Whitmer and Altman standing in front of a comically large American flag provoked an informal statewide referendum on unchecked data center development. Gubernatorial candidates suddenly came under scrutiny: The husband of Democratic nominee Jocelyn Benson worked for Related and helped to seal the Saline deal, while Benson’s Republican opponent, John James, supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which attempted to limit the ability of municipalities to regulate AI.
The White House, the stock market, and every other podcast ad seem to agree that AI is an inevitable step forward. This is a …
