Independent Contractor Role: AI Now seeks a Local Policy Researcher/Land Use Expert

AI Now is looking for a consultant to support a research project focused on data center expansion. The Researcher will work with AI Now and Local Progress to (1) create threestate-specific guides to local data center policy and (2) update our research template for otherstates.

This project aims to address this gap of state-specific recommendations, building on AI Now’s North Star Data Center Toolkit, which maps the strongest possible local, state, and federal policy interventions to stop and slow the data center buildout. We developed this resource in response to and in collaboration with numerous fights on the ground, as existing guides were either issue-specific or took a less-than-transformative approach. The toolkit has been successfully used across the US, primarily to set policy at the local and state-level, but we have not yet been able to offer state-by-state specifics.

As an initial pilot, the AI Now Institute, in partnership with Local Progress, plans to develop three state-specific guides defining local policy interventions for each state, including zoning and other areas. The project may expand over a longer timeline to include additional states. See the scope of work below for more information about the project, timeline, and budget.