China has worked for years to drive climate activism in America with a goal of slowing down American energy independence and making America dependent on Chinese energy technologies.
Now it's using the same playbook for artificial intelligence. Texans shouldn't fall for it.
For generations, Texas has been America's energy capital. The state's abundant resources, entrepreneurial culture, and willingness to build made it an economic powerhouse and strengthened America's security.
Now Texas stands at the beginning of another historic opportunity, and America's national security depends upon Texas' continued willingness to build.
Artificial intelligence is becoming the defining technology of the 21st century, and Texas is rapidly emerging as its center.
The nation that leads AI will enjoy enormous advantages in economic growth, scientific discovery, manufacturing, finance, and the national security that comes with it.
The Chinese Communist Party understands this reality and is working to undermine the United States.
I have testified twice this year before Texas House committees regarding evidence that foreign actors, particularly the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated influence networks, are pushing lies and amplifying opposition to data center development.
Beijing knows America's AI leadership depends on enormous investments in computing infrastructure, especially data centers. It also knows Texas could become the world capital of this leading technology. That's why China has every reason to slow Texas down.
In June, OpenAI disclosed that it had dismantled a Chinese-linked influence operation that amplified opposition to American data centers. According to the company, operators in China posed as Americans and used AI-generated content to spread claims that data centers would raise electricity prices, strain power grids, consume excessive water, and burden local communities. Those messages don't exist in a vacuum.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute has documented similar anti-data center narratives promoted by organizations tied to Neville Roy Singham, an American who shares a Shanghai office building with an organization funded by a CCP propaganda department. A federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York is now investigating Singham's financial network, a probe that began with questions about whether he acted as an unregistered foreign agent and has since expanded into a criminal tax inquiry. CODEPINK, one cog in the Singham network, has portrayed AI infrastructure as an environmental threat while linking opposition to American AI development with resistance to what it calls a “new Cold War on China.”
Chinese state media have echoed many of the same themes for English-speaking audiences. The digital risk firm Alethea documented roughly 700 mentions of data centers across Chinese,
Russian, and Iranian state-run outlets in the first half of this year — about four a day — including English-language pieces built to reach American readers.
Meanwhile, China's largest technology companies aren't merely competing with America's leading AI labs while also using American AI tools to launch campaigns against American technology infrastructure. They are also strip-mining our leading labs. This month, Anthropic reported disrupting industrial-scale “distillation” campaigns run by seven China-based labs accounting for roughly 190 million harvested exchanges with its Claude models. In two of those cases, Anthropic says the Chinese firms quietly routed their own paying customers' conversations through an American model and trained on the answers.
We've seen this playbook before. For years, Chinese-linked organizations sought to shape America's energy debate in ways that benefited Beijing. State Armor has documented how Energy Foundation China funded advocacy supporting policies that weakened reliable American energy production while China expanded its own industrial base.
That doesn't mean Texans shouldn't debate where data centers belong or how they should be developed. Those are legitimate questions that impact local communities, and businesses building data centers should focus on being good neighbors who deliver transparency and wins for local communities. Yet Texans should recognize when foreign adversaries attempt to manipulate our debate, especially when that manipulation has national security impacts.
The Legislature convenes again on Jan. 12, 2027. Texas is uniquely positioned to lead the AI economy that will power America's 21st century leadership. If Texas embraces that opportunity, it won't simply remain America's energy capital. It will become the place where energy, artificial intelligence, finance, and innovation come together to build the economy of the future. Those decisions should be made by Texans, on Texas facts; not on narratives manufactured in Shanghai.
Beijing understands exactly what's at stake. Texans shouldn't let China's disinformation campaign prevent Texas from leading the next American century.
Michael Lucci is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of State Armor, which he created to develop and enact state solutions to global security threats.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Michael Lucci: Don't let Beijing write Texas' AI policy
