Oakland is wide-open to billionaire AI data centers

Oakland is wide-open to billionaire AI data centers

City Officials’ roll out the red carpet to billionaire developers of AI data centers

By Lynda Carson - September 6, 2026

Oakland, CA - Locally, and across the nation there are protests in opposition to AI, and AI data centers. Oakland is wide-open to the threats of billionaire AI data centers that are not welcomed by many, which may drive up the cost of PG&E’s never ending utility rate hikes affecting the low-income population of Oakland.

AI and data centers are a threat to humanity. Some recent headlines below may help to shed some light on the frightening situation…

CathNews, Human Rights Commission says data centres a threat to human rights.

The Conversation, 5 ways data centers endanger their local communities and the country as a whole.

Treasure Coast News, Florida data centers devour energy and water, human and animal threat.

National Catholic Reporter, In AI encyclical, Pope Leo warns of tech, data center threats to creation.

The Australian, AHRC: data centres can harm human rights.

Los Angeles Times, They built AI. Now Silicon Valley workers protest its threat to jobs and humanity.

VTDigger, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want to halt data center production.

U.S. Catholic, AI’s environmental costs fall most heavily on the marginalized.

Psychiatric Times, Data Centers Are Swallowing Up Our Human Resources.

Reuters, EXCLUSIVE: OpenAI agents hijacked German website in previously undisclosed AI breakout this spring.

telegraph.co.uk (yesterday), AI agents conspired to escape their cage. Experts now fear a global ‘takeover’.

NBC News (yesterday), Researcher who found OpenAI-linked rogue agent swarm says AI giants may hide future chaos.

Gizmodo, Another Rogue OpenAI Agent Swarm Went Undisclosed. We Have No Idea How Many More Are Out There.

TechCrunch, OpenAI’s rogue agents keep escaping, with no formal process to investigate them.

PBS, AI agents are hacking systems without any input from humans. How did we get here?.

Time Magazine, How Rogue AI Could Act Like an Invasive Species.

calcalistech.com, OpenAI admits its AI agents used a wiki as a springboard for rogue behavior.

Meanwhile, it appears that Oakland officials may be in the pocket of Big Tech Companies, and have spread out the red carpet in the form of legislation to create AI “activation zones” downtown Oakland, in an effort to lure AI data center developers into Oakland.

Recently, the San Francisco Business Times reported that a local developer called Behring Companies plans to transform a building at 415 20th St. into a “specialized data center to serve artificial intelligence companies.” That’s right! “Prometheus, an AI startup co-founded by Bezos and former Google executive Vik Bajaj, recently signed a lease for 100,000 square feet of space in the American Steel Blocks building on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, according to the San Francisco Business Times. Tesla also signed a lease for another 40,000 square feet in the same building.”

Indeed. Elon Musk’s Tesla and a startup company founded by Amazon (Jeff Bezos), are leasing some big industrial warehouse spaces in West Oakland that are of deep concern to Oaklanders. Data centers “consume a lot of power.”

During 2025/2026, Amazon contributed $100,000, to the greedy billionaire Tech community known as Technology Network (Technet) California, a group of Tech CEOs and executives promoting AI, and data centers.

In opposition, reportedly, “Xavier Buck, executive director of the Huey P. Newton Foundation and founding director of the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland, said he thinks cities like Oakland are intentionally targeted to be “sacrifice zones for the AI boom.”

Additionally, “No Data Centers” in Oakland has a petition for people to sign to endorse the call to BAN AI data centers in Oakland. info [at] nodatacenteroakland.com

Reportedly in an August 30, 2026 East Bay Times article, in part it says, “Hundreds gathered recently in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood to voice opposition over possible plans to build new data centers in the city. By the end of the night, a rift was exposed between a progressive Oakland councilwoman and leftists who want a ban on the controversial facilities.

During an Aug. 21 meeting organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, members said the environmental and economic harm data centers, which help power emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, pose would continue Oakland’s history of actions negatively affecting the working class.

For weeks, the group has been organizing a “No Data Centers In Oakland” petition it says has garnered over 6,700 signatures.”

Additionally, reportedly the organizers for the Party for Socialism and Liberation have stated, “AI data centers have been appearing across the country, predicting massive profits for the ultra wealthy, while promising pollution, water contamination, and displacement for surrounding working-class communities. When the ultra-wealthy invest in AI, it is always with the goal of increasing their profits by eliminating jobs,” the party said in a statement Friday. “This fight is about more than just one data center, it’s about who decides the future of Oakland.” ( info [at] pslweb.org ).

That’s right. In a time when rogue AI reportedly can behave as an invasive species, billionaire Colin Behring of Danville, the CEO of Behring Capital, LLC, reportedly wants to have ‘HIS’ own data center and artificial intelligence complex located downtown Oakland.

According to public records with the FEC, billionaire Colin Behring of Danville, made a $1,000 campaign contribution to Alex Padilla for Senate, on 4/20/2022. Colin Behring is the grandson of billionaire Ken Behring, the founder of Blackhawk, and former owner of the Seattle Seahawks football team.

AI and data centers are a serious threat to humanity.

Reportedly, in a recent July 22, 2026 report with the BBC, in part it says, “OpenAI has revealed some of its most advanced AI models went rogue and hacked a start-up after it lost control of them during a security test.

The ChatGPT-maker said its agent - an AI system which can operate alone after human instruction – was being tested in a controlled environment but, after finding weaknesses, was able to escape the test limits.

They targeted Hugging Face, one of the world's largest hubs for sharing AI models, gaining access to some internal company systems.

OpenAI said the incident was "unprecedented", and it was conducting an investigation alongside Hugging Face, whose boss Clement Delangue said in a post on X it was "mind-blowing that all of this happened autonomously".

According to Time Magazine report in recent days, in part it says, “An unreleased OpenAI system managed to break out of an offline environment during a cybersecurity test. It found a place on OpenAI’s computers where it could secretly communicate with other versions of itself, largely unbeknownst to humans. Seven hundred of these AI agents planned and executed a hack of a different AI company, Hugging Face. We learned last week that, after this, the models also managed to take control of some parts of OpenAI’s own systems. This appears to have been a key reason OpenAI took the drastic step of pausing some reinforcement learning training last month.”

Indeed. Colin Behring of Danville, reportedly wants to have a data center and artificial intelligence complex located downtown Oakland.

Reportedly, in an August 16, 2026 ABC news story, in part it says, “OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A downtown Oakland office building that once housed a supercomputer operation for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory could become home to a new data center and artificial intelligence complex.

The four-story building at 415 20th St. is being considered as part of a proposed innovation hub envisioned by Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife and developer Colin Behring. The proposal remains uncertain, including the facility's future occupants and final use.

"My goal is to protect the community but also enhance the potential of economic development in my district," Fife said.

The building formerly housed Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's supercomputer site for more than 20 years.

Yashas Hariprasad, a computer science professor at Cal State East Bay, said the site already has resources that could help support a data center.”

California Secretary of State Public Records for Behring groups.
Behring Capital LLC (202010010506) - filling date in California, 3/13/2020 - status active - mailing address 3820 Blackhawk Rd. Danville, CA 94506. This is the same address as the originally named Berkeley Regional Center Fund, LLC, at 3820 Blackhawk Rd., Danville, CA 94506, that was renamed in 2019 as the the Behring Regional Center, LLC - 201310237Cl- status active - filing date 5/2/2013, which is linked to the Behring EB5 investor group for foreign investments and foreign national investors, https://www.behringeb5.com/ . Behring Capital LLC (202010010506) is also listed as a Delaware corporation, file date 2/4/2014.

The principals at Behring Companies include Christina Ji, Colin Behring, Kyle Behring, and Peter Bibler. Behring Group - 3820 Blackhawk Rd Danville, CA 94506 Office: (925) 997-9032.

Additionally, according to Behring, their project at 1900 Broadway in Oakland which is to be managed by Essex Property Trust, INC, is the inaugural asset of the BRC Legacy Fund, Behring’s ultimate EB-5 investment offering giving investors the opportunity to share in the ownership of trophy quality assets over the long term.

These are global foreign investors, and the City of Oakland has no idea who the foreign investors are linked to the Behring EB-5 projects, or where they are getting all of their money from, resulting in the displacement of Oakland’s low-income communities.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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