This week, a major controversy erupted involving Sarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI, who suggested that American taxpayers should help finance the company’s ambitious computing infrastructure plans. During an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she called for a supportive “ecosystem” including banks, private equity, and governmental involvement to underwrite costly data centers and cutting-edge chips. Critics swiftly condemned the idea of federal backing for a private entity, leading Friar to clarify her remarks on LinkedIn, emphasizing collaboration with the government to build “industrial capacity” instead of debt guarantees. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, intervened, asserting that the company does not seek government guarantees for its data centers, reinforcing that taxpayers should not bail out poorly managed enterprises. However, he clarified discussions about government loan guarantees were related to supporting domestic semiconductor plants, positioning AI as a vital national interest demanding a strong domestic supply chain.
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