OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during a fireside chat organized by Softbank Ventures Asia in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday, June 9, 2023.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google and several American power and utility companies met Thursday at the White House to discuss the future of artificial intelligence energy infrastructure in the U.S., sources familiar with the meeting told CNBC.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Google President Ruth Porat all attended the meeting, which focused on bringing the public and private sectors together to talk about artificial intelligence’s energy usage, data center capacity, semiconductor manufacturing, and grid capacity, sources familiar with the meeting confirmed.
An OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC that the company believes building additional infrastructure in the U.S. is critical to the country’s industrial policy and economic future. “We appreciate the White House convening this meeting as it is a recognition of the priority of infrastructure to create jobs, help guarantee that the benefits of AI are widely distributed, and ensure America will continue to be at the forefront of AI innovation,” the OpenAI spokesperson said.
OpenAI shared its economic impact analysis with Biden-Harris administration officials, including the estimated impacts on jobs and gross domestic product of building a large-scale data center in sample states across the U.S. such as Wisconsin, California, Texas and Pennsylvania, a source familiar told CNBC.
CNN first reported on the meeting.
“President [Joe] Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris are committed to deepening U.S. leadership in A.I. by ensuring data-centers are built in the United States while ensuring the technology is developed responsibly,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson told CNBC.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm also attended Thursday, according to a source familiar.
The meeting included U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan; Ali Zaidi, national climate advisor; Kristine Lucius, domestic policy advisor to the vice president; and John Podesta, senior advisor to the president for international climate policy. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed also attended, according to a source.
The news follows an announcement in August that OpenAI and Anthropic will let the U.S. AI Safety Institute test their new models before releasing them to the public, following increased concerns in the industry about safety and ethics in AI.
The institute, housed within the Department of Commerce at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said in a press release at the time that it would get “access to major new models from each company prior to and following their public release.”
The group was established after the Biden-Harris administration issued the U.S. government’s first-ever executive order on artificial intelligence in October 2023, requiring new safety assessments, equity and civil rights guidance and research on AI’s impact on the labor market.
OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise a funding round that would value the company at more than $150 billion. Anthropic, founded by ex-OpenAI research executives and employees, was most recently valued at $18.4 billion. Anthropic counts Amazon as a leading investor, while OpenAI is heavily backed by Microsoft.
