OpenAI pledges no NDAs with officials at sites it owns

What OpenAI published

OpenAI released two documents. The National Community Compact says what communities can expect from the company. The Compute Campus Policy Blueprint asks federal, state and local lawmakers to set rules for the whole industry.

“The compact sets out what communities can expect from OpenAI at future campuses that we own and operate,” the company wrote. Each such campus will get its own local compact, shaped by residents.

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The promises

“We will not use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with public officials,” the compact says. It keeps “narrow protections” for security information, trade secrets and competitively sensitive information.

OpenAI says it will pay the full cost of its electricity and of the infrastructure that serves it. Before major spending, it will give financial assurances that protect other customers if a project is delayed, reduced or cancelled.

It also promises water plans for each campus, with closed-loop or low-water cooling as a priority. It says it will publish water and electricity use, construction plans and independent noise studies, and report on progress every year.

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How firm they are

The promises cover only sites OpenAI owns and operates. “Partners such as Oracle are building and own much of OpenAI’s data center infrastructure,” Reuters reports. DCD says it is not clear whether the compact includes the majority of the computing power that OpenAI leases or develops with partners.

Some wording is soft. The compact says programmes to cut power use at peak times “could include” several steps, depending on local conditions. DCD also notes that OpenAI “could” invest in housing or education, without a firm promise.

OpenAI itself calls voluntary commitments only “an important starting point”. Its blueprint asks for rules that bind every builder.

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Why now

Of 41 data centre ballot measures this week, all but one went against data centres, according to Ballotpedia, Reuters reports. Democrats also won governorships in Texas, Georgia and Ohio, with candidates who promised to pause new permits.

Reuters says the policies had been in the works since August. Axios reported before the vote that OpenAI’s policy team had been collecting proposals since then, some new and some repackaged. OpenAI says the compact builds on promises it made in January.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, told reporters that hardware upgrades would bring lasting work, unlike “some version of a black box in a pasture”. He said one site in southern Ohio should create 2,500 long-term jobs at an average salary of $80,000, Reuters reports.

“We need to do a better job of really communicating to people, to local communities,” OpenAI President Greg Brockman said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

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What it asks of lawmakers

The blueprint says state utility commissions should make large electricity users cover the costs they add to the grid, Politico reports. It would also let utilities cut power to data centres when demand is high.

OpenAI gives one example of its own. Its agreement with Georgia Power covers a planned campus in Effingham County. It lets the utility cut the power it delivers by up to 1,000 megawatts at times of high demand, the company says.

The blueprint would narrow, but not end, the cases in which developers can ask officials to sign NDAs, Politico notes. Amazon has also said it no longer uses such agreements with government agencies.

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