AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 24 (Our Texas Times) — Humans First, chaired by former Tea Party leader Amy Kremer, plans to begin a nationwide bus tour in Austin on Sept. 12, 2026, to oppose the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers.
The group calls the tour the “Data Center Revolt.” Its planned route will travel through the South and up the East Coast, with stops in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia, before ending in Silicon Valley, California, according to Humans First.
The campaign adds a national platform to a growing local debate over the facilities that support AI services. It also raises questions about how Humans First was formed and who has helped finance it.
What is the group trying to change?
Data centers are large facilities that house computer servers and related equipment. AI systems require significant computing capacity, so companies are building or expanding data centers in areas with available land, electricity and network connections.
Humans First says communities should have more information and a stronger role in deciding whether those projects move forward. The group points to concerns about possible infrastructure costs, utility rates, water demand, noise, land-use changes and environmental effects.
Those concerns are positions and demands advanced by the organization. The supplied records do not independently establish the effects of any particular project in Austin or elsewhere.
Kremer has said the group is not calling for a nationwide ban or a federal moratorium. Instead, Humans First says it wants local transparency and community representation. The group has described the data-center buildout as “unaccountable” and an “unacceptable infringement on our liberty,” according to a statement quoted by Reuters.
Kremer said the tour is intended to organize opposition to what she called efforts by Big Tech to impose AI technology on the public. No specific data-center company is identified in the materials for the Austin launch.
Why Austin matters
Austin is scheduled to be the starting point for the bus tour. Texas also played a central role in Humans First’s earlier protest campaign.
Reuters reported that Humans First coordinated protests on July 18, with 142 events in 42 states. Texas had 18 events, the largest number reported for any state in that account. Earlier reports cited at least 125 planned locations, a difference that may reflect timing or different counting methods.
The available information does not identify a specific Austin project, neighborhood, utility or local government proceeding tied to the Sept. 12 event. It also does not provide the tour’s full itinerary or launch venue.
How the organization started
Questions about Humans First’s origins have accompanied the campaign. California incorporation records, as described in reports about the group, show Oliver Zhang and Arunim Agarwal incorporated Humans First in January 2026 while they were staff members at the Center for AI Safety, or CAIS.
The Center for AI Safety is an organization focused on risks from artificial intelligence. Reports also connected CAIS to funding from Open Philanthropy, a grant-making organization founded by Dustin Moskovitz.
Kremer said Humans First received an initial startup loan from CAIS and is repaying it. She also said the group does not disclose individual donors and denied that Humans First received money from Open Philanthropy.
The supplied material does not include financial records establishing the size or terms of the reported loan, its repayment status, the organization’s donor list or a direct response from CAIS, Open Philanthropy, Zhang or Agarwal. As a result, the funding relationship remains disputed and incomplete in the public account available for this story.
What happens next?
The September tour is designed to connect local fights over data centers into a national campaign. Humans First says its focus is not to stop every facility through a single federal policy, but to press for local disclosure and public participation.
The campaign’s influence will depend in part on whether it can turn broad concerns about power, water, noise and land use into specific local demands. The supplied information does not show which projects the tour will target, what policy changes it will seek at each stop or whether any local governments have agreed to act on its proposals.
