Well the AI firms pay for the construction of the data centers. Apparently, the average person also pays with higher electricity bills and water bills because the AI data centres consume a lot of electricity and water. Though Altman has said that the claim of data centers using absurd amounts of water is a false claim.
When they move into our communities, they offload taxes by paying nothing, they increase our utility rates so we can fund the infrastructure build out so they don't have to. And when they need more, they kick entire communities off of the grid like lake Tahoe. The Utah DC starts at 2GW, the entire state only uses 7GW, but the DC will go up to 9GW. So the taxpayers pay for it all and eventually lose their access. There is zero reason to have these in your state.
Yeah, This is a big issue and why everyone in the media and ordinary people just dissent and chasten the idea of AI data centers.