By Cade Metz and Tripp Mickle
Late last year, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, began laying out a bold plan that he hoped would create the computing power his company needed to build more powerful artificial intelligence.
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In meetings with investors in the United Arab Emirates, computer chip makers in Asia and officials in Washington, he proposed that they join together in a multibillion-dollar effort to build new computer chip factories and data centers around the world, including in Asia. western. Although some participants and regulators opposed some parts of the plan, talks continued and expanded to Europe and Canada.
OpenAI’s plan for the world’s technological future, which was described to the New York Times by nine people close to the company’s discussions, would create countless data centers that would provide a global reserve of computing power dedicated to building the next generation of AI.
As far-fetched as it may seem, Altman’s campaign showed how in just a few years he has become one of the most influential technology executives in the world, capable in a span of weeks of gaining an audience with money from the Middle East, Asian manufacturing giants and leading US regulators.
It was also a demonstration of the tech industry’s determination to accelerate the development of a technology it claims could be as transformative as the Industrial Revolution.
When news leaked that Altman, 39, was seeking trillions of dollars, he was mocked for seeking investments equal to about a quarter of America’s annual economic output. Officials in Washington also expressed concern that an American company was trying to build vital technology in West Asia. To build AI infrastructure in multiple countries, U.S. companies would need approval from U.S. officials who oversee export controls.
Altman has since scaled down his ambition to hundreds of billions of dollars, the nine people said, and devised a new strategy: Courting U.S. government officials by first helping to build data centers in the United States.
It’s still unclear how all this would work. OpenAI has attempted to form a loose federation of companies, including data center builders like Microsoft, as well as investors and chip makers. But the details of who would pay the money, who would receive it and what they would build are murky.
At the same time, OpenAI has been in separate talks to raise $6.5 billion to back its own business, a deal that would value the startup at $150 billion.
©2024 New York Times News Service
First published: September 26, 2024 | 23:44 IS
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