Venture investor publicly defends AI data centers: bringing new life to declining US towns

Venture investor Gavin Baker, who has long invested in tech, is publicly defending AI data centers, calling them the best opportunity for American workers and a force reviving struggling small towns. He argues that a college degree now has a clearly negative net present value, and suggests young people consider trades like electricians or plumbers, where pay is high due to the AI boom. On concerns about power and water use, he says the tech industry has made great strides and is driving US reindustrialization. He believes data centers face a branding problem and urges companies like Nvidia, AMD, Anthropic, and OpenAI to share real stories of positive impact to win public support.