OpenAI is preparing a policy and public-relations push for after Tuesday's US midterm elections, and one of the ideas on the list is renaming its data centers "AI compute campuses." Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, outlined the plan in an interview published Sunday.
Lehane framed the midterms as an early read on the next national election. He said he expects AI to be "the issue" in the 2028 presidential race and described Tuesday's vote as a preview of what is coming then.
“a bit of a movie trailer for what you're going to see in 2028”— Chris Lehane, OpenAI chief global affairs officer
The agenda he described has four parts: AI "speed limits," an effort to help people see AI as something that empowers them in daily life, a push for the United States to help develop global AI standards, and the data center rebrand. OpenAI has floated the new name as a proposal rather than announcing a formal change.
Key facts
- 01OpenAI is preparing a policy and PR push for after the US midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3.
- 02Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, called the midterms a preview of the 2028 presidential race.
- 03Proposals include AI "speed limits," US help developing global standards, and renaming data centers "AI compute campuses."
- 04Amazon and Microsoft have said they no longer use NDAs in data center negotiations with local governments.
The speed-limit idea tracks a proposal Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published in September under the banner of pacing the frontier. "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models," Amodei wrote, calling for shared safety standards and "limits on the rate of unchecked AI progress" among leading companies in democratic countries.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at the time that he agreed with Amodei and that OpenAI would follow suit on one of the measures. Amodei's plan also committed Anthropic to inviting third-party evaluators, such as those from METR, to verify its safety commitments, and argued that limits on chip and chipmaking equipment sales to China could widen America's lead over the next three to five years.
The data center piece of OpenAI's plan lands as AI infrastructure has become a local political issue. Amazon and Microsoft have both said they will no longer use nondisclosure agreements in negotiations with local governments, a practice that had drawn criticism over transparency.
AWS CEO Matt Garman put Amazon's position plainly in an October blog post defending data center construction: "We no longer use nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies we work with on our projects."
“Communities should hold companies responsible and accountable”— Chris Lehane, OpenAI chief global affairs officer
Lehane called the public debate over data centers "good and healthy" and said communities should hold AI companies accountable for the projects they build. OpenAI's push is planned for the period after Tuesday's vote.
Working on something we should cover, or seeing a story we missed? Send leads, documents, or feedback to hello@aichatdaily.com. For sensitive tips, see our secure tips page for Signal and PGP options.
Spotted an error? Email hello@aichatdaily.com with the URL and the issue, or read our full corrections policy.
