OpenAI has created a “blueprint” for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, which the company believes will be examined by the new Trump administration and Congress, implying that the plan will help the United States maintain its lead in the area over competitors such as China.
Chris Lehane, the company’s Vice President of Global Affairs, launched the “Infrastructure Blueprint for the United States” on Wednesday at an event held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
According to the firm, AI’s potential represents a “unmissable opportunity to revitalize the American Dream and reindustrialize the US.”
“Investments to extend the current U.S. lead in AI will yield tens of thousands of skilled-trade and other jobs, growth in productivity and GDP; a modernized grid including power generated by nuclear energy; a state-of-the-art network of semiconductor manufacturing facilities; and a new generation of AI-powered businesses and entrepreneurship,” suggests OpenAI.
The company, run by Sam Altman, also expects that US-backed initiatives abroad will help attract $175 billion from worldwide capital.
They claim that these possible investments are a better option to China-backed programs, portraying the East Asian country’s efforts as a means of limiting citizen access to AI, tightening government control over the populous, and increasing global influence.
“We need a national strategy now to ensure that investment in AI infrastructure benefits and protects American competitiveness, our national security and that of our allies,” according to what the organization stated in its blueprint release. “This policy should encourage rather than discourage developers, as they will be the Main Street enterprises of the Intelligence Age. It should foster robust AI ecosystems of labs, start-ups, and larger corporations that will ensure America’s AI leadership role in the future.”
OpenAI announced a series of five efforts to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure in the United States and with partners around the world.
1) AI economic zones: The company advocates for incentives to expedite the permitting and approval process for AI infrastructure, including solar arrays, wind farms, and nuclear reactors. According to OpenAI, states that provide subsidies may include a condition requiring that a portion of the compute be made available to public universities.
2) OpenAI proposes the National Transmission Highway Act to fund AI-optimized transmission infrastructure, including high-bandwidth data communications and pipelines to power a nationwide “AI highway.”
3) Government support for high-value AI public works: Open AI suggests that the US government can encourage the private sector to fund costly energy infrastructure projects. The government would then commit to purchase energy and other measures of reducing credit risk. Furthermore, the government should subsidize local training programs that educate Americans for AI occupations like data center management and operations. OpenAI proposes modifying state-sponsored 529 educational savings accounts to include investments in coding boot camps, HVAC technician training, and electrical training.
4) The corporation proposes a North American AI Compact to improve access to funding, supply chains, and expertise across Western Hemisphere countries. They predict that as it grows, the sharing of resources and knowledge will readily compete with the People’s Republic of China’s AI infrastructure partnerships.
5) OpenAI is advocating for the use of the US nuclear Navy’s 100 Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to power submarines. In their blueprint, the Navy could lend their expertise in building civilian SMRs and “catalyze a revival of American nuclear power that helps drive our great reindustrialization.”
6) “AI has the potential to reindustrialize the United States and drive economic growth, revitalizing the American Dream.” It also provides a national security need to protect our country and its allies from a rising China by providing an AI fashioned by democratic values that promotes individual choice and benefits the greatest number of people feasible,” OpenAI stated.
Leaders in both the House and Senate have stated that educating members on AI is a top priority for Congress. However, their interpretations of what that entails differ slightly. Nonetheless, individuals connected to the booming AI business are dissatisfied with how Congress is treating the subject.
In July, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to address financial and regulatory hurdles to nuclear energy development. According to Pew, the majority of Americans want to see more nuclear power facilities built.
Still, nuclear plant shutdowns continue to outperform new development.
In his pre-election interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, President-elect Donald Trump expressed skepticism toward nuclear energy.
“There’s a little danger to nuclear,” he was saying. “You know, we had some really bad nuclear.”
Trump takes issue with two proposed nuclear projects that failed under his presidency. Nonetheless, he cited France as an example of how governments may invest in nuclear energy while remaining efficient.
France does it. “France is largely nuclear,” Trump declared. “And they build small, little, compact plants, and if they build more, they build the same thing, and they hook it up.”
