Last week’s midterm election results have been interpreted as a referendum on AI data centers, but despite pushback, Sierra co-founder and OpenAI chair Bret Taylor told Deirdre Bosa that the US needs to lead in the space.
“I would say building data centers was on the ballot. I think it’s really an imperative in this country we lead in AI,” Taylor said.
“And that means leading in power. It means leading in compute. It means leading in chips. It means leading in models, and then where we sit on the stack, leading in applied AI as well,” he added.
Americans across the country have been protesting data centers over concerns about the facilities’ impact on noise pollution, electricity rates, and the environment.
Last Tuesday’s election saw Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, with many siding with the protesters. President Trump has strongly backed the data center build-out.
The election results sent shares of AI stocks plunging.
Sierra co-founder Clay Bavor, however, says there’s room for debate about the technology and data centers.
“I think there’s just going to be unbounded demand for high-quality intelligence and therefore compute,” he said.
“I think there are all sorts of benefits of these data centers with jobs, training new folks in manufacturing and service, tax benefits. And also it’s completely reasonable to be concerned about whether it’s the noise or electricity bills and so on. So I think you can debate where to end up,” Bavor added.
Taylor says the country will navigate the risks to the AI build-out, saying that the technology is too important.
“Big picture, I’m really bullish. I think we will navigate the risk. I don’t know how. I mean, who knows what will come out tomorrow? But I think we’ll navigate it because there’s so much economic value in it,” he said.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley or reach out on Signal or Telegram.
