OpenAI Drops NDAs in Data Center Talks After Voters Rejected 40 of 41 Measures
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Nov 6
OpenAI Drops NDAs in Data Center Talks After Voters Rejected 40 of 41 Measures
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Nov 6
Summary
OpenAI said it will no longer use NDAs with public officials on data center projects, retreating after midterm voters overwhelmingly opposed further expansion.
Only narrow confidentiality protections will remain—for security information, trade secrets, and other proprietary or competitively sensitive material—addressing criticism that NDAs hid talks with local officials.
The new community commitments also promise to pay the full cost of electricity and related infrastructure, publish expected job creation and hiring reports, and attach a local compact to each future compute campus it owns and operates.
The move follows a broader backlash over environmental and utility-cost concerns; Amazon made a similar anti-NDA pledge in October.