State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) said those who create and build artificial intelligence (AI) products and data centers are a “threat to humanity” during an interview with German-owned Politico Magazine published on Sunday.
Currently seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to represent the Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, and a longtime opponent of Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI, formerly known as xAI, told the outlet, “AI is controlled by people.”
Pearson told Politico, “Data centers are built by people. And those people and how they exist and operate in the world are a threat to humanity.”
The magazine described Pearson as a face of the modern “New Luddite” movement, affiliating the state representative with the 19th-century movement in England, purportedly named after Ned Ludd, who was claimed to have wrecked textile machinery in 1779.
Citing orders from “General Ludd,” textile workers burned factories and destroyed industrial machinery across England beginning in 1811. The violent and destructive protests persisted until at least 1816, but peaked between 1811-13, with one mill owner assassinated by Luddites in April 1812.
Despite the destructive and bloody history associated with the term, Pearson told the magazine that he shared some “strong similarities” with the Luddites, and encouraged members of the public to learn more about the 19th-century protests.
“I think people should study what the Luddites were actually doing,” said Pearson, according to German-owned Politico. “They saw what was being created was going to have severe and significant disruption on the social fabric of society, and that is why they were destroying the technology, the ‘improvement,’ the ‘progress.’”
He reportedly stated, “What I am witnessing is a computer being given more care and concern than a human by elected officials, by corporations, by leadership and by the United States federal government.”
Pearson told the German-owned outlet, “And that is wrong and it should terrify people, that a data center is being protected more than the people who live near it.”
Though the Luddites were a response to upheaval created by industrialization, the economic process did not leave the public permanently impoverished as the protesters feared. Instead, the value of Britain’s cotton exports increased 100-fold between 1766 and 1840. The public benefited, as by 1860, experts say British earnings had risen 55 percent higher than the levels determined for 1770.
While U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) announced his retirement from Congress after the Tennessee General Assembly redrew the 9th Congressional District to be winnable for Republicans for the first time since 1972, Pearson claimed in June that the contest remained winnable for Democrats.
“They know that this is going to be one of the most competitive seats in the United States of America already,” said Pearson during an interview with Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias. “We haven’t even got through the primary, and they’re going to have to spend millions and millions and millions of dollars to try and keep it.”
Elias argued that the redrawn district was “only a Republican plus nine district,” and that “anything below plus 10 one way or the other was considered a swing seat” before very recent political history.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Justin Pearson” by Justin Pearson.
