Demands made by organizers from the groups involved include transparency in the development process, protection of resources and environmental health, community benefits such as the creation of well-paying union jobs, and a way to hold developers accountable if they break their promises.
The Republican stronghold of Texas, a hotspot for data center development, hosted 18 protest events, the most of any state. The battleground state of Georgia had 11 rallies. Democratic-dominated California had eight, while the swing state of Pennsylvania and the Republican-leaning states of Florida and Indiana came in at seven each.
Saturday's Atlanta protest, one of a number of similar actions this month, attracted about a dozen participants who traveled from smaller Georgia towns where the largest data centers are being built, said Jake Watts, 26, a volunteer at that event.
Left-leaning Ivan DelSol, 54, helped lead a protest in the California desert's Imperial County, where a proposed data center project could use 260 million gallons (984 million liters) of water per year from the Colorado River.
"It's dystopian that you would use this much fresh water for AI," said DelSol, who later added around 50 people attended despite temperatures that soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
Although water is frequently cited as a top public concern, especially in water-stressed regions, the data center industry says its water use is not as significant as other industries.
In Tyler, Texas, first-time activist and self-described "political nomad" Eva Cardona, 31, organized a protest that also drew about a dozen people.
"I've been hearing about unregulated AI and the rapid growth was alarming me. I wanted to do something more hands-on than just your standard Facebook post," Cardona said.
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