• A growing share of Americans living in rural areas aren't happy with data centers.
• Most data centers are built in rural areas.
• Data centers are facing a public reckoning amid bipartisan pushback.

Americans living in rural areas are increasingly souring on data centers.

In a new poll by the Pew Research Center, which surveyed people in August, half of rural Americans said data centers "are mostly bad for the environment" — a figure substantially higher than in January, when it sat at 32%.

46% of those respondents also said that data centers would drive up home energy costs, up from 32% in January. 45% said they negatively impact the quality of life for those living nearby, while 28% said so in January.

While displeasure with data centers increased among Americans across the board, according to Pew, higher levels of antagonism among rural voters are striking because most data centers are built in rural areas.

The data center buildout, which proponents say is integral for the US to keep pace with China in the AI race, has been suffering a PR crisis as a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers moves to impose limits on data center construction.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, who was formerly bullish about building data centers in his state, recently backed away from that optimism. His administration has halted some 1,800 AI data center projects in the state.

All across the country, Americans are rallying to fight against AI data centers, which can cost billions to build and span hundreds of acres. Many are concerned about how the sprawling facilities will affect the environment, utility prices, water resources, and noise levels. Some just don't like AI.

For AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, and others, the issue is existential. Without AI data centers, they can't power the products they sell. Sam Altman has recently suggested that new data centers could be built far from where people lived, such as the desert.

Proponents of data centers have said the buildout brings jobs to rural areas. Venture capitalist Gavin Baker recently said that data centers are "probably the best thing that has ever happened to working-class Americans."

Tech bros haven't been able to agree on exactly why Americans aren't taking to the data center buildout. Some have postulated that a Chinese-orchestrated psy-op is behind the distrust, while others said tech leaders haven't sold the product well.

President Donald Trump, for his part, called the data center buildout "the golden goose," and warned against falling behind China.

"The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," Trump said in August in a Truth Social post.

In the Pew poll, very few Americans — about 4% — said data centers are "good" for the environment, energy costs, and quality of life.

"Americans have grown more negative toward the possible environmental and economic effects of data centers since the beginning of the year," Pew said in a release. "And a majority say they'd be uncomfortable if a new data center started operating in their area."

• Disney is raising the prices for Disney+ and Hulu.
• The ad-free Hulu-Disney+ bundle now costs $21.99 a month.
• Media giants have been consistently hiking streaming prices.

Disney+ is getting more expensive for the sixth year in a row.

The cost of the ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans will imminently increase to $21.49 a month, up from $18.99 a month, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Bloomberg first reported the pricing change.

Disney is hiking the ad-free bundle of Disney+ and Hulu to $21.99 a month, up from $19.99, the spokesperson said.

Disney is raising the cost of its stand-alone, ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu plans to $12.49 a month. The price of the ad-supported Hulu-Disney+ bundle is staying flat at $12.99.

Streaming services have consistently received price hikes as media giants strive to satisfy Wall Street. However, companies like Disney and Netflix have hiked prices for ad-supported plans more gradually, reasoning that they can generate more incremental revenue from those subscribers and give customers a lower-cost alternative.

Peacock hiked prices in August and now charges $19.99 a month for its ad-free plan, up from $16.99, while its ad-supported version costs $12.99 a month instead of $10.99.

Netflix raised prices in March, asking subscribers to pay $2 more a month for its standard ad-free plan ($19.99) and the premium 4K plan ($26.99). The cost of Netflix's ad-supported plan rose by $1 a month to $8.99. That plan is tied for the cheapest among major streamers with Paramount+ and the stand-alone ads version of Prime Video.

Apple TV increased its cost to $14.99 a month in August, up from $12.99. The tech giant doesn't offer an ad-supported tier.

Consumers have increasingly turned to free services like YouTube, Tubi, and The Roku Channel as streaming prices have risen in recent years.

Several Hollywood giants, including Disney and Paramount Skydance, are exploring adding free tiers to their streamers.

• Ukrainian soldiers are spending longer periods in combat areas.
• The heavy drone saturation has made it difficult to leave the front lines for medical care.
• One unit said that soldiers must have treatment options brought forward in response.

The threat of Russian drones is keeping Ukrainian troops stuck near the front for longer stretches and forcing the military to think more about how it delivers medical care to soldiers who can't easily leave.

For one Ukrainian military unit that specializes in front-line casualty evacuation, the lesson is that battlefield medicine now has to do more than stabilize the wounded and get them out.

Soldiers in combat areas for extended periods need access to outpatient care, diagnostics, specialist consultations, and treatment for both chronic and acute illnesses without being forced to leave the battlefield every time they need medical assistance, Ukraine's 1st Separate Medical Battalion told Business Insider.

A battalion spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said in translated remarks that modern combat medicine is developing in two main directions: using machines to replace troops and evacuate casualties wherever possible and pushing high-quality medical care closer to troops at the front.

The front lines have evolved into what Ukrainian officials and soldiers describe as a "kill zone." Drones are constantly watching and able to target anything that moves, including soldiers and armored vehicles, with precision. The aerial threat has made it difficult and time-consuming to move even short distances.

The kill zone varies in size, extending for miles on both sides of the line of contact, and Ukrainian officials and soldiers say it is expanding as more drones flood the battlefield.

The battalion spokesperson said the growing number of drones is forcing the unit to change its approach to casualty evacuation, stabilization sites, and forward surgical teams.

The unit must become more mobile and less visible, moving between locations faster, the spokesperson said.

Ground robots, meanwhile, are increasingly being used for casualty evacuation, reflecting a growing trend across the Ukrainian military in which machines are replacing soldiers for dangerous missions such as logistics.

The battalion spokesperson said that access to sophisticated medical equipment is also critical, though the most advanced equipment is not always the most useful. Any system brought forward must be suitable for rugged, front-line conditions, meaning that it must be mobile, autonomous, easy to maintain, and have a sufficient support chain.

In some cases, a reliable, self-sufficient device may be more valuable to the unit than a more advanced system that isn't designed for the battlefield, the spokesperson said.

More generally, heavy drone saturation in Ukraine has upended long-standing assumptions about combat casualty care.

Delayed casualty evacuation, for instance, stands in stark contrast to the model US and allied forces relied on in the post-9/11 wars, when US and coalition forces could leverage their air superiority to helicopter wounded soldiers to large, fully equipped bases.

Western military leaders are increasingly warning that they might not have these same advantages in a future war against a near-peer adversary such as Russia.

In Ukraine, drones have made it difficult to deliver medical care to wounded soldiers within the "golden hour," the first 60 minutes after a severe injury, when rapid treatment can be critical to survival.

NATO is increasingly aware that it could face similar challenges and has looked to Western medical and defense industries for technology that could help save lives in a drone-infested environment.