OpenAI promises to pay for its data centers' power and grid after the midterm backlash

Two days after voters in town after town appeared to reject data centers, OpenAI went shopping for something it cannot build: permission, Fortune writes. On Thursday the company published a National Community Compact, pledging to pay for the electricity and grid infrastructure of the data center campuses it owns and operates. It also pledged to post financial guarantees before major spending begins, so other utility customers are not left with the bill if a project is delayed or cancelled. OpenAI told Fortune the compact has been months in the making and puts in writing pledges it has already been making on its campuses. Mining and energy companies call this a "social license": a community's ongoing consent to operate, which no zoning board grants and no tax abatement buys. The midterms did not stop the AI buildout, the magazine argues; they repriced it, and OpenAI is already promising to pay up.