A grassroots conservative movement against new data centers has been making headlines nationwide with a series of protests. However, a closer look at the group's leadership and organizers reveals a complex web of alliances and affiliations that blur the lines between conservative and liberal ideologies.
Humans First, the group behind the protests, initially launched as a bipartisan project but has since identified itself as a conservative social movement focused on ensuring that the future of AI is in the hands of everyday people. The group's public face is Amy Kremer, a right-wing activist with a history of involvement in conservative politics.
Despite Kremer's conservative credentials, a review of Humans First's website and incorporation records reveals that the organization's initial employees were staffers from the Center for AI Safety, a San Francisco-based nonprofit. The Center also provided a loan to Humans First as start-up capital.
Several local organizers listed on Humans First's website as planning the July 18 protests have backgrounds in left-of-center politics. One of the organizers, a transgender Green Party House candidate, was affiliated with the Illinois Green Party, which supports a range of progressive causes, including solidarity with Cuba and expanded abortion access.
Alexandria Keating-Sofiakis, a transgender activist and congressional candidate, organized a separate Humans First protest about 50 miles northwest of Chicago. Keating-Sofiakis' campaign website lists support for the Green New Deal, expanded abortion rights, and ending American support for Israel.
Kremer has repeatedly posted critical social media messages about transgender issues, yet Keating-Sofiakis and other left-of-center organizers say their opposition to data centers transcends traditional ideological boundaries. They argue that the ecological damage and economic costs associated with data centers make them a cross-partisan issue.
Humans First defended its conservative credentials, with Kremer pointing to her history as a founder of the Tea Party movement and an early supporter of Donald Trump. Most of the official staff listed on Humans First's website have spent significant portions of their careers working in conservative politics.
However, a review of Humans First's protest pages reveals that several listed organizers had left-wing, Green Party, or Democratic-aligned backgrounds. In Illinois, a chapter of the Illinois Green Party was listed as an organizer for a protest just outside Chicago. In Missouri, the founder of CleanEarth4Kids, a group that has urged followers to oppose Republican-backed measures and support Democratic-backed bills, was listed as an organizer for a Springfield protest.
Some protesters at the event in Gilroy, California, had signs protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a common antagonist for those on the left. Nearly 1,000 miles south of its Green Party-linked protests in Illinois, Humans First's protest page listed a Georgia activist group called People for Progress as the organizer of a local demonstration.
The group was founded after the 2024 election to resist Trump's agenda and protect "diversity, equity & justice." In Missouri, Humans First's protest page listed the founder of CleanEarth4Kids as an organizer for a Springfield protest, while Ferguson Advocates for Civic Transparency (FACT), another group run by left-of-center individuals, organized an additional Humans First demonstration just outside of St. Louis.
Lady Huston, one of the organizers leading FACT, said that Humans First hosted weekly Zoom meetings for its organizers and sent out regular mass emails with directions and suggestions for them. She stressed that the opposition to data centers should be a nonpartisan issue, citing Sen. Josh Hawley's statements on the need to address the effects of data centers.
Not all the organizers who have signed up to facilitate Humans First's nationwide protests are political liberals. Cathy Latham, a longtime Georgia GOP official, is now working as a staffer with Humans First and organized a July 18 protest in Waco, Texas. Latham was among the 18 defendants, including Trump, indicted in Georgia's 2020 election-interference case.
