Chris Lehane

So OpenAI is acutely aware of how voters are feeling about this issue.

And Chris Lehane, OpenAI's global chief of affairs, told us as much in a briefing yesterday.

So basically what OpenAI is doing here is laying out a series of commitments, and it also published a policy blueprint to try to encourage lawmakers to adopt many of these commitments into law.

So for example, OpenAI is pledging to publish its construction plans It's pledging to cover the costs of electricity at these facilities.

Or maybe more accurately, let's talk about how OpenAI is getting political.

So there's a new piece in TechCrunch about OpenAI's head of global affairs, Chris Lehane.

This guy is a veteran political operative, and apparently he's already working to define the 2028 election.

Wait, the star 2028 election? That's two years away.

I'm James Strive, this is TechLinked, and the reason for the rename is that seven in 10 Americans told a Gallup poll in May they don't want a data center near them.

OpenAI's policy chief, Chris Lehane, is pitching the new word alongside AI speed limits and a message that these buildings, unlike legacy data centers, make the towns they land in money.

The company could use a win.

The Financial Times says OpenAI cut its funding from around $30 billion to 20 after raising only 11.

And here's the best one, renaming data centers as, quote, AI compute campuses.

Open AI's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, told Axios that the midterms will be a bit of a movie trailer for 2028 when he expects AI to be the signature issue of the presidential election.

Jason, my question is for you.

Do you agree? Is AI the thing we'll be debating for the next two years into 2028? And two, is it too late for an AI data center rebrand.

as Democrats seem likely to win back the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate too.

The company's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, told Axios that the midterms will be a bit of a movie trailer for what you're going to see in 2028 when he expects AI to be the issue in the presidential election.

So, OpenAI is to influence the AI debate moving forward, with Lehane discussing several proposals, including the development of AI speed limits, finding ways to help people see AI as empowering them in their daily lives, pushing the U.S. to take a role in developing global standards, and, yeah, rebranding data centers as AI compute campuses.

Lehane also described the conversation around data centers, a debate that has pushed Amazon and Microsoft to say they will no longer use NDAs and their negotiations with local governments as good and healthy.

Exactly.

Though, to their credit, OpenAI's policy chief, Chris Lehane, calls this debate democracy in action.

And they are advocating for state bills that would give locals a formal voice.

Right.

Data centers are deeply unpopular, but... what if we called them something else? Axios is reporting that OpenAI is preparing a PR blitz for after the midterm elections on Tuesday, as Democrats seem likely to win back the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate as well.

The company's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, told Axios that the midterms will be a bit of a movie trailer for what you're going to see in 2028 when he expects AI to be the issue in the presidential election.

So OpenAI is to influence the AI debate moving forward, with Lehane discussing several proposals, including the development of AI speed limits, finding ways to help people see AI as empowering them in their daily lives, pushing the U.S. to take a role in developing global standards, and yes, rebranding data centers as AI compute campuses.

Lehane also described the conversation around data centers, a debate that has pushed Amazon and Microsoft to say they will no longer use NDAs in their negotiations with local governments, as good and healthy.