Country music legend Willie Nelson, 93, has urged Americans to resist the spread of AI data centres across rural Texas, warning they are consuming farmland and draining local water supplies. In a social media post shared on Tuesday, Nelson framed the issue as a threat to rural ways of life, reflecting on his ability to see "stars at night" in his Texas hometown and contrasting this with the encroachment of industrial development driven by the artificial intelligence boom.

Nelson's appeal calls on followers to "fight against data centers invading our land," positioning the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure as a direct challenge to farmland preservation and water resources in rural communities. The post taps into growing concern across the United States about the environmental footprint of data centres, which require vast amounts of water for cooling and large tracts of land, as tech companies race to build out AI computing capacity.