The Real Story Behind Shapiro’s Data Center Mandate — and the Conversation Coming to AI Horizons

Will we shape the future — or be shaped by it?

Last week, Governor Shapiro drew a line in the sand on data centers in Pennsylvania. The headlines focused on new requirements. But the bigger story is why they are needed — and what comes next. The AI Strike Team supported the principles behind GRID when the Governor first proposed them. Here’s why.

Across the country, speculative developers are tying up land and proposing massive projects — sometimes without a clear customer, credible power plan or community support. That is giving all AI infrastructure a bad name.

GRID essentially tells developers: show your cards. Bring community support, a credible power strategy and a plan to be a good neighbor.

The challenge now is implementation: stopping speculative projects without slowing responsible, community-supported investments that are ready to move.

Data centers have become a physical symbol of AI anxiety. People see enormous land requirements, rising power demand and record valuations — and ask: What are we getting in return?

How can AI help physicians detect disease earlier and find better treatments? Better protect soldiers and first responders? Accelerate scientific discovery, build more housing and strengthen American industry?

AI is doing all of these things and it requires data centers. So the debate can’t simply be data centers: yes or no? It should be: Where should we build them? How should we power them? And what do we want all of this compute to accomplish?

If we want people to embrace AI, they need to see themselves benefiting from it.

That means connecting massive investments in compute and energy to tangible outcomes: better health, safer jobs, stronger communities, scientific breakthroughs, new industries and greater American competitiveness.

And it means asking who gets to build. How do we make sure compute isn’t accessible only to the world’s largest technology companies — but also to the startup working on cancer detection, the university researcher solving an infrastructure problem or the entrepreneur building the next great robotics company?

Those questions run throughout this year’s AI Horizons agenda.

We’ll look at how established companies moved from AI pilots to real adoption and global competitiveness; how AI and robotics can make dangerous work safer; how autonomous vehicles can earn public trust; how cities can use AI to improve the way they work; and how students can move from simply consuming AI to actually creating with it.

And after two days focused on what we can build, we’ll close with AI builders and philosophers from Meta and Anthropic asking an equally important question: Can We Teach AI Wisdom? As these systems become more capable, how do we keep human judgment and values at the center of what gets built?

Because we cannot run from AI. We have to build with it.

That’s how we build AI Acceptance. And that’s a conversation Pittsburgh should lead.

AI Horizons | September 17–18, 2026 | Pittsburgh

The AI Strike Team advances strategic initiatives and cross-sector partnerships that catalyze AI-driven investment, innovation, and adoption — positioning Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania for sustained growth and leadership in the New AI Economy.