AI news, 5 November: Voters slam brakes on AI data centres in US midterms

US voters reject AI data-centre boom. In the 2026 midterm elections, Americans delivered a sharp rebuke to the rapid expansion of facilities powering artificial intelligence. According to Wired, Axios and Reuters reporting, voters approved restrictions or moratoriums in the vast majority of more than 40 local ballot measures across about 10 states, with Ohio seeing especially strong opposition. Democrats who campaigned on pauses or tighter rules won key races, including the Texas and Georgia governorships. Exit polls indicated data centres and AI were a major factor for many voters amid concerns over electricity costs, water use and local impacts. Analysts say the results could delay projects in major hubs and open the door to more scrutiny and regulation, though many facilities already under construction will proceed. Industry figures and Elon Musk noted the shift, with some floating alternatives such as space-based computing.

Google ties school Search access to AI tools. Google announced that for K-12 student accounts, Gemini AI features and Search will be off by default unless administrators enable them. The company told The New York Times and The Verge that Search and AI are now deeply integrated, so schools fully rejecting AI tools will also lose student access to Google Search. Google framed the change as giving schools more control and introduced Guided Learning options to encourage step-by-step reasoning rather than quick answers. The policy drew criticism from educators and officials who called it pressure to accept AI; Google later clarified administrators can enable services individually, though pure Search without AI Overviews remains unavailable. The shift is expected to take fuller effect into 2027.

ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion weekly users. OpenAI’s consumer product lead said ChatGPT now has 1.2 billion weekly active users, up from 1 billion about two months earlier, according to reports including Big Technology coverage. The company also estimated its search-like query volume at roughly one-fifth of Google’s. Voice use and image generation continue strong growth. The figures underscore ChatGPT’s massive scale even as questions remain about long-term monetisation compared with traditional search advertising.

Meta and OpenAI buy AI coding startups. On the same day, Meta acquired Conductor, a platform that lets developers run multiple coding agents in parallel, while OpenAI announced it will acquire Pierre Computer Company to strengthen Codex tools for storing, reviewing and managing code. Terms were not disclosed. Conductor’s cloud service is set to shut down later in November; Pierre’s open-source work will continue. The deals highlight intense competition to control developer tools as AI agents handle more software work.

AMD posts record quarter on AI chip demand. AMD reported third-quarter revenue of $13.4 billion, up 45% year-over-year, with data-centre sales nearly doubling to $8.5 billion on strong EPYC processors and Instinct MI450 GPUs. The company guided fourth-quarter revenue around $17 billion and pointed to accelerating AI infrastructure demand from major customers. Shares rose on the results, which offered a counterpoint to some recent worries about the pace of AI spending returns.