OpenAI touts blueprint for US to take on China in AI

ChatGPT parent OpenAI has called on the US and its “likeminded” allies to join forces and develop the infrastructure needed to build artificial intelligence (AI) systems to counter the “autocratic bloc that China is organizing.”

The Microsoft Corp.-backed AI firm on Wednesday suggested setting up a ‘North American AI Compact’ that would help gain access to talent, funding and supply chains to build AI infrastructure and “reindustrialize” that country.

The proposal was included in a policy blueprint from OpenAI that was released at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, Bloomberg reported.

The document offers detailed public suggestions on how the US can maintain its lead in AI and meet the technology’s significant energy demands, the report said.
OpenAI said the US government should step in to support costly energy infrastructure.

“With $175 billion available for AI infrastructure investment, the government can step in by committing to buy or use some of the computing resources, which it needs for its own systems,” Chris Lehane, vice-president of global affairs at OpenAI, said in his views on the industry perspective on growth of data centers at the CSIS policy event.

“This would attract that investment to the US and support local infrastructure development. Additionally, worker training should be prioritized to prepare people for jobs related to building and maintaining these facilities,” he added.

OpenAI’s proposal comes as the US readies for a change in administration. President-elect Donald Trump has backed the proposal to grow US energy capacity to stay competitive in AI.

Immigration reforms to woo AI talent

To a question on the need for AI-skilled human capital in the US, and bringing some of that in from the rest of the world, Lehane suggested immigration reforms.

“There’s a program that many of you are familiar with called the H-B1 (sic) visa. It’s designed to do that,” Lehane said, adding, “Can we evolve how we’re thinking about some of these programs so that we’re potentially attracting and bringing some of these folks into areas of the country that typically have not benefited from the technology revolution, the economics of that?”

Lehane also suggested setting up AI data centers in regions that haven’t benefited much from the tech boom of the past two decades. By implementing a system similar to the H-1B visa program, these data centers could attract top global talent.

The influx of skilled workers could then spark innovation and growth in those communities, creating a thriving local tech ecosystem around the data centers, he added.

OpenAI gears up to launch ‘Agent Operator’

In a separate development, OpenAI is gearing up to launch  a new AI agent, codenamed “Operator,” that can take control over a computer from a user to write code or book travel, Bloomberg reported, citing two people in the know.

In a recent internal meeting, the company leadership announced plans to release the tool in January as a research preview and through the company’s application programming interface (API) for developers, the report said.

The impending release aligns with an industry-wide trend towards developing AI agents capable of executing complex, multi-step tasks with little oversight.

OpenAI rivals such as Anthropic are also developing AI tools that can monitor and process activities on a user’s computer in real-time.

OpenAI is currently advancing multiple agent-related research initiatives. The project closest to completion involves a general-purpose tool that operates within a web browser, as per insiders.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently alluded to this direction in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session, suggesting that the next major breakthrough in AI will likely involve agent-based technologies.