Zuckerberg Pledges $1B to Data Center Towns as Meta Revives Open-Weight AI Push

New fund targets jobs, schools and utility costs amid Meta’s $600B U.S. expansion.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled a $1 billion fund for communities hosting the company’s data centers and renewed its open-weight AI push in an online manifesto, arguing broad access and local investment are needed to prevent superintelligence’s wealth and power from concentrating among a few institutions.

Zuckerberg framed concentration of AI power as the larger safety threat.

“The notion that AI is so dangerous that the only safe path is an extreme concentration of power seems inherently problematic,” Zuckerberg said.

A Meta spokesperson told Reuters the Future Is For Everyone Fund would total $1 billion. Zuckerberg said it would support community agreements covering high-paying local jobs, schools and public services, stable electricity prices and environmental protections. He pointed to Richland Parish, Louisiana, where Meta said teachers received bonuses of up to $50,000 after construction boosted tax revenue.

The announcement accompanied Muse Glimmer, a smaller open-weight model designed to run on a personal computer with one graphics card. Meta also plans to release the weights for Muse Spark 1.2, its most advanced model.

Meta separately told investors it expects $125 billion to $145 billion in capital expenditures this year and has committed more than $600 billion to U.S. infrastructure, AI technology and workforce expansion through 2028.

The proposal also arrived amid a congressional effort to pause new AI data centers until safeguards address utility prices, workers, communities and the environment. Rep. André Carson, D-Ind., one of the bill’s sponsors, said families should not absorb the burden.

“Data centers cannot come at a cost to American families, who are already facing high grocery, gas, and housing costs,” Carson said.

Meta also joined the White House’s voluntary Ratepayer Protection Pledge in March. Participating companies agreed to pay for new power generation and grid upgrades required by their facilities while investing in local hiring and training.