OpenAI prepares lobbying blitz for a post-midterm Washington

OpenAI is gearing up for a political lobbying and PR push after the US midterms. According to Axios, the company is bracing for a tougher fight in Washington if Democrats win control of the House.

After two years under a friendly administration, big tech companies with close ties to President Trump are facing growing regulatory pressure. Rivals like Meta are already building bridges to Democrats. OpenAI's policy chief Chris Lehane plans to steer the AI debate through 2028 with a mix of new and repackaged proposals. The pitch centers on one idea: AI doesn't replace people. To back that up, OpenAI is proposing binding safety rules that build on earlier ideas. Lehane calls them "speed limits."

The company is also responding to growing local backlash against data centers. According to Axios, OpenAI wants to rebrand the facilities as "AI Compute Campuses" and is promising economic benefits to host communities. Lehane says the company's top priority in the new Congress is fast-tracking safety rules for frontier models.

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