Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said during a Breitbart News Fight Club Roundtable on Monday evening that he believes China is helping fund opposition to artificial intelligence data centers, while arguing that the country should consider the effects on the electrical grid and water resources without putting itself at a disadvantage in the competition over AI.
Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow and Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle hosted the Fight Club Roundtable with Johnson.
Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle discuss China and AI during a Breitbart News Fight Club Roundtable on Monday, August 31, 2026. (Matthew Perdie/Breitbart News)
Marlow asked Johnson about the stakes surrounding the construction of AI data centers in the United States.
“I would hate to see China win the war on AI. Again, I don’t have the specifics on this. I have a sense that China is funding the opposition to AI centers,” Johnson said.
“Now, at the same time, I think we need to be responsible. We need to look at the demands on the electrical grid. I think demands on water resources are way overstated, but overstated because China is funding the propaganda against these things,” he continued.
China’s President Xi Jinping, centre, and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov talk during a meeting in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Plus format in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday, September 1, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Johnson then said the United States should not put itself at a disadvantage in the AI race.
“We need to expose that fact, and then we need the American public to open up their eyes and go, okay, do we really want to handicap ourselves? Do we really want to lose the race to AI again, and this is with all the trepidation of what is AI going to create?” Johnson said.
Johnson also addressed concerns about AI’s effect on the workforce.
“I’m far less concerned about AI replacing jobs. Take a look at America 100 years ago, and we’re an agricultural economy, and you had way more than 50 percent of the American population or working Americans providing food. Now it is single digits. That’s a good thing. I mean, all those farmers lost jobs, but they’re doing other things,” Johnson said.
“Right now, we don’t have enough workers. Our biggest problem isn’t trade or trade deficits. We don’t have workers, so, you know, AI will free up and will have more workers producing things,” he added.
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Johnson then discussed his concerns about AI.
“I’m concerned about out-of-control AI. Who is going to provide general intelligence the rules, so they don’t destroy the human race? I’m a big reader of science fiction, and Isaac Asimov had three basic commandments for robotics. We need something like that. But who’s doing it?” Johnson said.
Johnson also expressed skepticism about leaving safeguards for advanced AI entirely to technology companies, pointing to the effects of social media.
“Now, I don’t have faith in these kids who are running these AI companies — they’re the same ones that unleash social media on us, to many benefits, to great benefits, but also a great deal of harm to people as well,” Johnson said. “Because, again, they want to make a buck. Nothing wrong with that, but this is where I actually do need government.”
“You need responsible people making sure that we have basic laws so that generalized intelligence doesn’t destroy the human race,” Johnson continued. “That’s what worries me. Not AI centers, not data centers.”
Johnson concluded by addressing infrastructure concerns surrounding data centers.
“I want to be very aware of how we are impacting our electrical grid and the impact on water resources. But again, I think that’s largely overstated,” he said.