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DR David Rubenstein David Rubenstein On Earn Your Leisure

“Data centers have become something where people wanted them for a while in their backyard. They thought they produced jobs. Now people don't want them in their backyards. And in fact, recently there was a survey that said more people are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their backyard than a data center.”

Earn Your Leisure · October 2026

“Data centers have become something where people wanted them for a while in their backyard. They thought they produced jobs. Now people don't want them in their backyards. And in fact, recently there was a survey that said more people are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their backyard than a data center.” — David Rubenstein, Earn Your Leisure

Asked how he sees energy and the political fight over powering AI, Rubenstein says many politicians now oppose data centers outright. He concludes they will have to be built somewhere "nobody lives". He doesn't name the survey.

Transcript

Earn Your Leisure Around 23:51 into the episode
David Rubenstein

…very expensive. And and I think don't help the global economy. Oil prices are at record heights because of what's going on in Russia, Ukraine, and what's going on in the Middle East. So I don't know what will ultimately happen, but I suspect the markets are not happy with what they see right now.

Speaker 3

…on a domestic issue that can't span the global, which is energy, specifically when we talk about data centers and how we're going to power them and the political effects that could have on the thoughts around it. How are you viewing data centers in terms of the overall build of the future of AI?

David Rubenstein

Well, as a general rule of thumb, people would say, I need more technology, more technology is good. As a general rule of thumb, some people are not in favor of technological improvements. But data centers have become something where people wanted them for a while in their backyard. They thought they produced jobs. Now people don't want them in their backyards. And in fact, recently there was a survey that said more people are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their backyard than than a data center. And as a result, many politicians are now saying, I don't want any data centers. And then the data centers have to be somewhere if you're going to have all these AI computing power. So at some point, we'll have to find some place where nobody lives and we can build a data center because right now people don't want them because they think it's going to be destructive to the environment. It's going to cost a lot of money. And in the end, they're nervous about it.

Speaker 2

Okay. Let's talk about sports. So you're the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

David Rubenstein

I'm the control owner.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Speaker names from our own diarization · position estimated from where the line sits in the episode