Data Center Buildout Fuels Local Political Backlash

xAI has raised another monster round. Polymarket has yet another controversy around whether a bet should pay out or not. Could the AI datacenter buildout actually disrupt politics in local America? And a sort of roundup of what’s been at CES so far.

• Elon Musk’s xAI Raises $20 Billion (NYTimes)
• Polymarket refuses to pay bets that US would ‘invade’ Venezuela (FT)
• Americans Hate AI. Which Party Will Benefit? (Politico)
• The data center rebellion is here, and it’s reshaping the political landscape (Washington Post)
• Three Reasons We Can’t Get Enough of LinkedIn (WSJ)
• What surprised us the most at CES 2026 (The Verge)

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