OpenAI releases new data center guidelines after communities approve moratoriums in midterm elections

OpenAI announced a new framework on Thursday for how it will move forward with operating its data centers and engaging with communities, a move that follows voters overwhelmingly rejecting the technology through ballot measures in the midterm elections.The ChatGPT maker released a National Community Compact and a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint that intend to lay out how OpenAI will operate at its campuses and to provide guidelines to allow residents to have a “meaningful voice” in data center proposals.“The communities that host this infrastructure should have a clear say in shaping their futures, too,” the company said in a news release. “Residents should be able to influence how a campus is developed, hold developers accountable for covering the cost of powering it, and share in the jobs and business opportunities it creates. How we build these campuses is one of the first tests of whether the benefits of AI will be broadly shared.” The artificial intelligence company’s community compact applies to “every future compute campus OpenAI owns and operates” and promises to work with residents who will shape data center plans. It establishes a point of contact which community members can work with “throughout the life of the campus.”Additionally, the compact assures residents that OpenAI will pay for the electricity it uses, protect local resources and prioritize a closed-loop water system, and advertise job opportunities and work with unions to provide training for employment on the campuses.Notably, in promising to report on the impact of data center construction, OpenAI also guarantees it will not use nondisclosure agreements with public officials, a move that has sparked controversy for some communities who felt they were uninformed during proposal and development.“The blueprint calls for public reporting on water, energy, noise, and hiring, and for narrow limits on when developers can require public officials to sign NDAs,” the company said. “When states or local governments offer tax incentives, the terms should be public, with measurable commitments and a way to recover benefits if a developer falls short.”DATA CENTERS ON TRACK TO GO 1-40 ON BALLOT MEASURES IN SIGN OF BACKLASHFor the past year, public disapproval of data centers has been rising due to fears that they will raise local energy prices, water consumption, and noise pollution. OpenAI has been staunchly aware of opposition, and even shifted from calling the developments data centers to computing campuses.The new measures from OpenAI come after voters rejected data center development on 41 ballot measures across 10 states. Of the 41 ballot measures, three would temporarily pause data center development. Moratoriums in the past year have become popular among local governments as a way to slow development and provide additional time to set guardrails on data centers.