OpenAI wants to call data centers campuses. The noise gets tenure

The AI infrastructure boom has reached the thesaurus. OpenAI wants data centers to be called “compute campuses”. A spokesperson says the term better captures their scale and the combination of computing, energy infrastructure and skilled jobs. A vast warehouse full of servers acquires the reassuring scent of higher education. Appoint a dean, and the cooling system’s overnight drone can count as an extracurricular activity.

The new name has some heavy lifting ahead. In a September Quinnipiac poll, 73% of registered American voters said they would oppose an AI data center in their community. Residents worry about noise, water and electricity consumption, potentially higher utility bills, and how quickly enormous developments get approved. Faced with an industrial facility next door, people keep asking industrial questions. The developer has brought a better noun; the neighbors would like to discuss the decibels.

Some parts of OpenAI’s package will require more than a naming workshop: community agreements, energy infrastructure commitments and a role for residents in shaping projects. The company’s published principles say neighbors should influence development, hold developers responsible for covering power costs, and share in jobs and business opportunities. Those promises need concrete terms and obligations. The grid operator is unlikely to accept a warmer brand identity as payment for an upgrade.

Residents should be able to influence how a campus is developed, hold developers accountable for covering the cost of powering it, and share in the jobs and business opportunities it creates.

Public anger remains frustratingly resistant to naming workshops. Whatever goes on the sign, the equipment keeps humming, the land stays occupied and the questions about utility bills still need answers. Winning over the neighbors will mean improving the terms of being neighbors. For now, OpenAI can claim one academic milestone: its School of Public Relations is open for business.