Climate activists floated kayaks on Elliott Bay and interrupted a tech industry panel Monday, Oct. 26.

The disruptions turned the opening day of Seattle AI Week into the latest front in the region's data center fight.

Members of Troublemakers, a Seattle climate activism group, disrupted the opening panel at AI House several times before security led them out, GeekWire reported. On the water outside, other protesters held a banner reading "Power for People, Not for Tech."

"These are not your constituents — we are," one protester told Beau Perschbacher, Gov. Bob Ferguson's senior policy advisor, as he addressed a crowd of tech and startup leaders.

Perschbacher shared the stage with Joe Nguyen of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Mattie Zazueta, OpenAI's global head of community programs.

The Washington Technology Industry Association organized the event, now in its third year.

The protesters' message, according to members who spoke with GeekWire: the rush to build data centers is putting communities, jobs and the environment at risk. Washington should invest in green jobs and clean energy instead, they said.

The disruption landed as residential electric bills are projected to rise an average of 9.5% in 2027 and again in 2028, according to KUOW. Seattle City Light is exploring a plan to charge data centers more than residential customers for power.

Resistance is growing statewide. Washington AI Resistance organized at least 19 protests across the state in October calling for a statewide moratorium, according to the Seattle Times. A bill to regulate data centers stalled in the state Senate earlier this year after passing the House, the Times reported.

Seattle's City Council voted unanimously in June to impose a one-year emergency moratorium on new data centers with electrical capacity above 20 megavolt-amperes (MVA). Four companies had approached Seattle City Light about building five large facilities with a combined maximum demand of 369 megawatts, enough to power about 300,000 homes, according to the council's blog.

Permanent zoning rules are expected to reach the council by early 2027, GeekWire reported in June. Whether the council has scheduled any action to extend or replace the moratorium before it expires is unclear.

The same day as the protest, Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 eligible employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, as the company spends tens of billions on data center and AI infrastructure, GeekWire reported separately.

Microsoft expects far fewer than the roughly 30% who accepted an earlier retirement offer to take this deal.

Inside AI House, panelists pushed back on the protest framing. Perschbacher said Ferguson's administration set up a work group to study data center impacts and could not find a Washington community harmed by one.

He acknowledged data centers "use a really significant amount of electricity" and called securing enough power "a major challenge."

After the protesters were led out, Nguyen told the crowd he agreed with them, calling their passion "very warranted."

He said Washington's strict energy policies address those worries and that other states should match them.

State Sen. Marko Liias said on a later panel that data centers wanting to locate in Washington must meet "stringent expectations," including adding clean energy to the grid and dropping nondisclosure agreements that keep communities uninformed.

Bills on ratepayer protections and transparency are likely to return in the next legislative session, Perschbacher said.

Employees eligible for Microsoft's buyout have until the first week of December to decide.