In brief
- Sam Altman stated on November 6 that OpenAI “does not have or want government guarantees” for its data centers.
- That claim came in response to CFO Sarah Friar’s earlier comment suggesting a federal “backstop” could help finance AI infrastructure—remarks she quickly retracted.
- A letter OpenAI sent to the White House on October 27 directly contradicts Altman’s denial, explicitly requesting loan guarantees and other federal financial support for AI infrastructure.
OpenAI explicitly requested federal loan guarantees for AI infrastructure in an October 27 letter to the White House—which kindly refused the offer, with AI czar David Sacks saying that at least 5 other companies could take OpenAI’s place—directly contradicting CEO Sam Altman’s public statements claiming the company doesn’t want government support.
The 11-page letter, submitted to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, called for expanding tax credits and deploying “grants, cost-sharing agreements, loans, or loan guarantees to expand industrial base capacity” for AI data centers and grid components. The letter detailed how “direct funding could also help shorten lead times for critical grid components—transformers, HVDC converters, switchgear, and cables—from years to months.”
“Initial investments could be made using existing authorities such as the Defense Production Act Title III and the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office,” OpenAI said.
Just 10 days later, on November 6, Altman posted on X that “we do not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI data centers,” adding that “taxpayers should not bail out companies that make bad business decisions.”
The contradiction emerged after OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told a Wall Street Journal event on November 5 that a federal “backstop” could help lower financing costs and increase debt capacity for AI infrastructure.
Her comments triggered fierce backlash. For example, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tweeted that the government should not bail out tech companies. Sacks wrote that “there will be no federal bailout for AI.”
Friar quickly walked back her comments on LinkedIn, saying OpenAI wasn’t seeking a government backstop for infrastructure commitments.
“I want to clarify my comments earlier today. OpenAI is not seeking a government backstop for our infrastructure commitments. I used the word ‘backstop’ and it muddied the point,” she wrote. “As the full clip of my answer shows, I was making the point that American strength in technology will come from building real industrial capacity, which requires the private sector and government playing their part.”
Altman’s lengthy X post the next day amplified this message. “Our CFO talked about government financing yesterday, and then later clarified her point, underscoring that she could have phrased things more clearly. As mentioned above, we think that the U.S. government should have a national strategy for its own AI infrastructure,” his tweet reads.
Of course, this move also generated backlash.
AI researcher Gary Marcus published the October 27 letter, calling Altman’s denial “lying his ass off” and noting the letter explicitly requested the very loan guarantees Altman claimed not to want. The letter remains publicly available on OpenAI’s content delivery network.
This isn’t the first time Altman’s statements have faced scrutiny. OpenAI’s board briefly fired him in November 2023 for being “not consistently candid,” according to the board’s statement. Former board member Helen Toner later detailed on a podcast how Altman had withheld information and made it difficult for the board to fulfill its oversight duties. A recent deposition from former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, who voted to remove Altman, further documented concerns about his candor.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the October 27 letter or the apparent contradiction with Altman’s statements.
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