OpenAI's Sam Altman urges Trump to ease power plant, data center construction

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that President-elect Trump should ease restrictions on data center and power plant construction to help boost the development of energy-intensive artificial intelligence (AI).

In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg published Sunday, Altman said the most helpful thing the incoming Trump administration can do for AI is support the construction of “U.S.-built infrastructure and lots of it.”

“The thing I really deeply agree with the president on is, it is wild how difficult it has become to build things in the United States. Power plants, data centers, any of that kind of stuff,” he told Bloomberg.

“I understand how bureaucratic cruft builds up, but it’s not helpful to the country in general,” Altman continued. “It’s particularly not helpful when you think about what needs to happen for the U.S. to lead AI. And the U.S. really needs to lead AI.”

On Tuesday, Trump announced that Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani plans to invest $20 billion “over a very short period of time” to build data centers across the U.S.

The investment will support the construction of data centers across the Midwest and Sun Belt regions, keeping the U.S. “on the cutting edge of technology,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

“Artificial intelligence is very big into the data centers, and that's going to be a very hot item in the coming years,” the president-elect added.

AI and its development require vast amounts of energy. As tech companies race to create and improve their AI models, they are increasingly looking to tap into additional power to fuel their data centers.

This has included seeking out new sources of carbon-free energy, such as nuclear power, as Big Tech firms aim to feed AI’s energy demands without increasing their emissions.

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