OpenAI and a16z Leaders Are Spending $50M to Convince These 3 States to Build Giant AI Data Centers
Build American AI is targeting three battleground states for new data centers to ‘strengthen American innovation.’
An advocacy group tied to powerful people from OpenAI, a16z, and Palantir is waging an all-out political campaign for more data centers.
The group, called Build American AI, has about $50 million that it is planning to spend on advertising, grassroots engagement, public education, and research, beginning in Kansas, Ohio, and Wisconsin Its message: The U.S. needs to continue building infrastructure to lead the world in AI, while also protecting communities and the environment
Now is the time to strengthen American innovation,
“Now is the time to strengthen American innovation,” the group’s website reads. “Our mission is to advance pro-innovation policies that build trust in technology, boost America’s competitiveness, and ensure U.S. leadership in the transformative technologies of tomorrow.”
Build American AI is a nonprofit tied to pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, which counts among its biggest funders OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen of a16z, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Axios reported. The group also plans to launch a new super PAC, called Building the Future, which plans to throw support behind candidates in federal and state-level races who support its agenda (as well as opposing those who do not). The group’s campaign is expected to expand as AI-related bills come together in the state legislatures. Axios noted that the group is focusing on issues, rather than specific races.
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On its website, the group lists five policy pillars for establishing a national AI framework. One calls for “thoughtful federal standards” that require companies to shield children from manipulation, exploitation, and harmful online content. Another urges the development of national safety rules “in partnership with industry leaders” that don’t overburden businesses with compliance barriers. The third and fourth focus on education and certification, promoting “AI literacy” through partnerships with schools and workforce programs, and training and certification programs for various industries.
Lastly, the group calls for the creation
Lastly, the group calls for the creation of a “large-scale computing hub on federal land” with infrastructure and energy paid for by companies to “protect local households and small businesses from higher utility rates.”
According to Axios, Build American AI views the approaches Colorado, Georgia, and Texas have taken to data centers as exemplary. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, for example, has been generally supportive of data centers; Georgia, meanwhile, offers tax exemptions. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has promoted making companies pay for the re
The group’s plans emerge even as communities across the U.S. are getting more fired up about data centers. Fears about the facilities’ immense electricity and water needs are fueling the backlash—as well as providing business opportunities to clean technology startups—and the debate has turned political. Democrats and some Republicans have begun seizing onto the anti-data center movement to various degrees, even as President Donald has pushed a “free enterprise” approach.
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