OpenAI is proposing to cut electricity use at its data centers when the power grid is under strain. The move is an attempt to ease local opposition to the facilities that power artificial intelligence.
Under the plan, called the Grid Protectors Program, the company would scale back its facilities' power draw during periods of high demand. The goal is to let nearby homes keep their air conditioning or heating running.
OpenAI said the approach would vary by region, and it has not finalized all the details. It said the program would account for future capacity needs and make power flexibility a core part of how its facilities are designed.
The announcement also leaned on new vocabulary. OpenAI used its preferred term, compute campuses, four times, and mentioned data centers only twice.
The rebranding comes as data centers' rising appetite for electricity strains the grid. AI servers account for a growing share of that demand, and further increases are forecast. The pressure has fueled a growing number of protests against new facilities, and those protests could delay construction.
OpenAI hopes the program will head off some of that resistance. Google has taken the opposite tack on peak demand, proposing to pay people to switch off their appliances during high-demand periods so it can keep its data centers running.
