Reported by The Verge AI
Critics say OpenAI should tackle peoples’ concerns about data centers, not rebrand them.
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People hate data centers . They’re loud, resource-hungry eyesores that are so profoundly unpopular they have managed to achieve the near-impossible in today’s polarized political landscape: genuine bipartisan opposition . But what about “compute campuses”? Those sound lovely, right?
More from the original report
OpenAI seems to be gambling that a quiet rebrand could be all it takes to defuse the growing political backlash that threatens to derail the infrastructure fueling the AI boom.
OpenAI debuted the new terminology on Monday in an announcement launching its new “Grid Protectors Program.” The initiative, starting with an upcoming site in Effingham County, Georgia, aims to address concerns about the strain its sprawling AI infrastructure places on local power grids, particularly during extreme weather and emergencies. It’s a familiar data center problem. Yet in the roughly 900 word announcement, the term “data center” appeared just twice, outnumbered by “compute campus.”
The initiative addresses worries about electricity use and the prospect of consumers being left to foot the bill for the AI buildout. OpenAI promises to “pay the costs we create” and “help communities keep the lights on.” Its two mentions of “data center” reinforce the connection: One references US data center capacity and electricity consumption, while the other directly compares OpenAI’s new “compute facilities” with “data centers built even a few years ago.” They’re “much different,” OpenAI says, with the new campuses allowing the company to be rather vaguely “flexible in our power demand.”
The terminology appears to be new for OpenAI. A quick search of its website turned up no previous uses of the term. The timing is noteworthy, too. On Monday, Axios reported that OpenAI was planning to rebrand data centers as “AI compute campuses” as part of a policy and PR push after Tuesday’s midterms, anticipating a more hostile regulatory environment if Democrats make gains. Apparently, the rebrand couldn’t wait.
Critics, however, aren’t buying it. A new name does nothing to lessen data centers’ environmental footprint…