OpenAI wants to give data centers the name "AI compute campuses"

Axios reports that OpenAI prepares a public relations campaign for after the US midterm election on Tuesday. Chris Lehane, the chief global affairs officer of OpenAI, told Axios that the election is “a bit of a movie trailer” for 2028. Lehane thinks that AI will be “the issue” in the US presidential election then. One proposal is the name “AI compute campuses” for data centers.

What is planned

Lehane described these proposals:

• AI “speed limits”
• a help for persons to see AI as a help in daily life
• a bigger role for the US in global standards
• the new name “AI compute campuses”

The proof

The source gives no number or test for these plans. It gives no date for the campaign and no information on the speed limits. It tells that data centers are very unpopular. Amazon and Microsoft tell that they stop the use of NDAs, which are secret agreements, in talks with local governments.

What is not known

It is not known if OpenAI does all of these proposals. Lehane described the data center debate as “good and healthy”. Lehane told that communities must hold companies responsible, and get a transformative benefit. A new name does not change the work of a data center.

Insight: OpenAI wants to set the AI words before the rules come

Democrats are likely to win the US House. On October 29, 20 Democrats in the US House wrote to OpenAI about 3 dismissed safety researchers. Jim Himes, a senior Democrat in the US House, told that AI data centers will become critical infrastructure. This reads as a race to set the words, such as speed limits and campuses before lawmakers write the rules. Leaders must make a plan for rules and local votes on AI sites.