'Our Risk, Their Reward': Zohran Mamdani on AI and Data Centers

In a WIRED interview ahead of the midterms, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani said the bipartisan movement opposing data centers gives him hope, framing current AI governance as "our risk, their reward" and warning of similarities between the housing bubble and AI's place in the economy. He said he does not trust "the Sam Altmans of the world," supports New York state's one-year pause on data center construction, and pointed to his administration's proposed moratorium banning generative AI for students from 2K through eighth grade.