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Comment by surfmike | Hacker News Reader

How much does OpenAI actually control the way the data centers are built and deployed?

I don’t know much about the impact of their data centers compared to others, but there weren’t many (if any) concrete commitments in this letter. The promises all seem like areas that even an evil corporation could pay lip service to.

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Major tenants like OAI have near total control. These GW-class datacenters are built to spec for the tenant. Construction doesn't start until all the details are signed off.

It is setting up the classic liability shift.

If you are just paying the bills and leasing the space, is it really your fault a datacenter some other entity built is sucking the water table of Levelland dry?

If I just use and don't own the data center, then how can I be held accountable for it's impact others?

> How much does OpenAI actually control the way the data centers are built and deployed?

Assuming OAI is the sole tenant in these facilities, I'd say we are approaching 100% control.

OpenAI et al can establish a Data Center PAC or contribute to one then lobby our political leaders like citizens (see Citzens United)

With the amount of cash OpenAI is splashing around they could easily write it into the contracts, but the current incentive structure prioritizes time between ground breaking and powered GPUs in racks. OpenAI has shown complete disinterest in the impact of AI writ large and will only reduce their community/infra impact to optimize that time to racked GPU along the Pareto frontier.

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