Seizing the AI opportunity

The US leads the world in developing AI—an advantage that helps ensure this technology is built to benefit as many people as possible. But keeping that edge requires far more electricity than the US can currently provide, and the growing shortfall threatens our leadership on a technology that provides a once-in-a-century opportunity to strengthen our economy and modernize America’s industrial base.

Electricity is not simply a utility. It’s a strategic asset that is critical to building the AI infrastructure that will secure our leadership on the most consequential technology since electricity itself. And it’s the kind of investment that will pay clear and tangible returns: the first $1 trillion invested in AI infrastructure could create more than 5 percent in additional GDP growth over a three-year period, according to an internal OpenAI analysis.

The gains don’t stop there. In a new submission⁠(opens in a new window) today to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, we detail how AI systems are improving how we operate and manage the grid, forecast demand, and design next-generation systems that make energy generation more efficient and reliable. 

In the seven months since we submitted our first response to OSTP, our weekly user base has doubled from more than 400 million to over 800 million people, with most using our tools for free. That growth reflects how rapidly AI is becoming part of daily life for millions of people—and reinforces the urgent need to find enough energy to support that growth.

In our new OSTP submission, we urge the administration to:

• Strengthen America’s industrial base

• Modernize regulations to unlock more energy

• Equip American workers for tomorrow’s jobs through AI education and workforce development programs

• Ensure frontier AI systems protect American national security, including through expanded federal government adoption