On Monday, one of the most business-friendly states in America told the AI industry to wait.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the state's environmental regulator to halt all permits sought by data centers until state audits of their power and water use are complete.
In August, he had already stopped large data-center projects from advancing through the grid operator's interconnection process while regulators audited them. This week, he widened the crackdown.
Texas. Not California.
The scale explains why. By August, the grid operator was considering roughly 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid, more than five times its record peak demand.
Abbott's office says about 90% of those requests are data centers.
"Simply put, Texans must come first," Abbott said. Data centers, he added, "must pay their own way."
Last Friday, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger unveiled her Data Center Accountability Framework.
It would ban nondisclosure agreements, require local approval for any data center above 25 megawatts and end state site-development subsidies for the industry.
Pennsylvania pulled data centers out of its fast-track permitting program in August. New York paused state environmental permits for data centers of 50 megawatts or more in July, for up to a year.
Four states. Two parties. One direction.
Then came Tuesday's number.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found 73% of Americans believe AI companies haven't done enough to keep the technology from causing serious harm.
Asked to choose between developing AI safely and staying ahead of the rest of the world, 73% chose safety. Only 23% chose the lead. Fifty-five percent said slowing AI down would be a good thing. Just 13% called it bad.
Washington frames AI as a race with China. Voters want it run on different terms.
Today, that tension walks into the White House, where President Trump hosts Xi Jinping with AI on the agenda.
The Scoreboard Is Shifting