OpenAI Publishes Community Compact and Compute Campus Policy Blueprint

OpenAI has published a National Community Compact and a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint, setting out commitments for the communities where it builds AI infrastructure campuses.

Our commitments to the communities where we build

Every future compute campus OpenAI owns and operates will have its own local compact. OpenAI says it will engage residents early enough to ensure their input shapes project plans, give them a local point of contact throughout the life of the campus, and report publicly each year on how it is doing.

The compacts will include a common set of commitments:

• Pay our own way on energy and infrastructure. OpenAI will pay the full cost of the electricity it uses and the infrastructure needed to serve it. Before major spending begins, it will provide financial assurances so other customers are protected if a project is delayed, reduced, or canceled.
• Protect local resources and report on our impact. OpenAI will develop a water plan for each campus, prioritize closed-loop or low-water cooling, and publish site-level water and electricity use. It will publish construction plans and independent noise studies before operations begin and annually afterward. It will not use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with public officials, allowing only narrow protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information.
• Create opportunities for local workers and businesses. OpenAI will publish the jobs it expects to create, work with unions and training providers to help residents prepare for them, and report annually on hiring and apprenticeships. It will also make sustained investments in priorities residents help select.

In Effingham County, Georgia, residents helped shape a $4.8 million grant to provide free school meals for all 14,000 students in the county. In Pike County, Ohio, families identified childcare as a priority, leading to a joint $6 million commitment from OpenAI and SB Energy.

A policy blueprint for responsible development

The blueprint asks federal, state, and local policymakers to establish clear rules for how the industry builds. OpenAI says new policy is required to establish trust and confidence between communities, elected officials and companies.

On who pays for power, the blueprint calls for state utility commissions to require large electricity customers to cover the costs they add to the grid and protect other customers if a project falls through. It also says utilities should make it easier for campuses to connect if they can safely cut demand when power is scarce. At OpenAI's planned Effingham County campus, its agreement with Georgia Power allows the utility to reduce the power it delivers to OpenAI by up to 1,000 megawatts during periods of high demand.

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. 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.

Why it matters

OpenAI says building more computing infrastructure capacity in the United States can help lower the cost of delivering AI, put these tools in more people's hands, and ensure America stays at the forefront of the technology. The company says how these campuses are built is one of the first tests of whether the benefits of AI will be broadly shared.

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Sources

• openai.com: Setting a new standard for responsible AI infrastructure | OpenAI

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.