OpenAI Weighs Renaming Data Centers as 'AI Compute Campuses'

OpenAI is reportedly readying a large public relations effort aimed at shaping how Americans think about artificial intelligence, and it includes a proposal to give its data centers a new name: AI Compute Campuses. Axios first reported the plan, according to Tom's Hardware.

The timing puts the campaign ahead of the U.S. midterm elections on November 3. According to the reporting, the work is part of a wider attempt to influence the AI debate well ahead of the next presidential contest in 2028.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, described the midterms as something like a preview of what will come in 2028. He expects candidates for president to face AI as a major issue, given public concern about jobs, the economy and the environment.

The terminology shift has been in progress since August, the report says, as OpenAI promotes safeguards for the technology. Lehane has described those safeguards as speed limits.

The naming proposal arrives as resistance to large data centers grows in the U.S. Such facilities consume large amounts of power and water, and people living nearby have raised worries about noise, air pollution, higher utility bills and too little public input.

OpenAI says it hopes to answer those concerns through community agreements and by presenting the infrastructure differently. A company spokesperson said the campus wording better captures what the infrastructure does, adding that the projects amount to long term spending on computing, energy and skilled jobs.

Other technology companies have made similar moves. In January, Microsoft promised to absorb electricity cost increases tied to its data centers and to put money into local infrastructure and jobs.

Changing a name may be simpler than changing minds. A Redfin study released in May found that 47% of Americans surveyed did not want a new data center built in their area. Reporting in August described how developers and local officials often negotiate under non-disclosure agreements, which can leave residents without key details about projects.

Construction plans have been affected too. At least 19 municipalities in Michigan have moved to limit new data center development after the $16 billion Stargate project from OpenAI and Oracle proceeded in Saline township despite local opposition. Amazon also dropped four planned data centers in northern Virginia last month after community pushback.

OpenAI is not the only party trying to change the vocabulary. President Donald Trump has urged agencies and AI companies to say super intelligence instead of artificial intelligence, arguing in late September that artificial makes the technology sound fake. His administration then told state department staff to use the term in official documents. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has called data centers superintelligence factories, Elon Musk has announced a rename of his AI company to SpacexSI, and Meta has set up a superintelligence lab.