OpenAI promises to pick up the power bill after voters slam data centers

OpenAI published a set of commitments Thursday vowing to cover the full cost of powering the data centers it owns and operates — a direct answer to voters who just torched AI expansion at the ballot box. The company also promised to seek community input before building, publish its construction plans, and stop using non-disclosure agreements with public officials. In a policy blueprint released alongside it, OpenAI urged lawmakers to turn those same promises into law.

The timing isn't subtle. Two days earlier, Americans delivered what CNBC described as a stinging rebuke of data centers: of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states, voters backed restrictions or shot down pro-development measures in all but one, per an analysis by Ballotpedia and additional results CNBC gathered Wednesday.

OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, framed the blueprint as a collection of hard-won lessons. According to CNBC, he told reporters at a Wednesday briefing that the commitments create a high floor for how companies move forward. He said the work began in August and included meetings with dozens of lawmakers and candidates.

Lehane added that having those conversations now builds momentum ahead of late January, when the new Congress convenes. Much of the groundwork, he said, is being laid in advance.

The backlash built fast. Over the summer, voters on both sides of the aisle soured on the facilities as inflation, grocery bills and stubbornly high gas prices squeezed households — and as worries grew that data centers could worsen environmental harm, push utility bills higher and cost jobs. For many, the buildings became the physical face of broader anxiety about AI.

OpenAI's business runs on those facilities. The company told investors in February it's targeting $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030, and it has since announced massive data center projects in Georgia and Ohio. It has pledged repeatedly this year to protect ratepayers and invest in local communities.