OpenAI Continues to Push for Government Help in AI Growth

OpenAI’s CEO wants the U.S. to expand eligibility for a tech-focused tax credit.

In a post on the social media platform X, Sam Altman pushed the federal government to expand eligibility for a Chip Act tax credit.

“We think U.S. re-industrialization across the entire stack — fabs, turbines, transformers, steel, and much more — will help everyone in our industry, and other industries (including us),” wrote Altman, whose comments were flagged in a report by Reuters.

However, Altman added, the tax credit is “super different than loan guarantees to OpenAI.” Reuters noted that Altman’s comment follows OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane’s letter to the White House last month looking for an extension of eligibility for the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (AMIC) to artificial intelligence (AI) server production, AI data centers and grid components.

Meanwhile, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said last week that a federal guarantee could reduce the cost of financing for chip investment.

“I think the U.S. government in particular has been incredibly forward-leaning, has really understood that AI is almost a national strategic asset and that we really need to be thoughtful when we think about competition with, for example, China,” Friar said. “Are we doing all the right things to grow our AI ecosystem as fast as possible?”

The Reuters report added that surging demand for AI models and products, OpenAI’s widely used ChatGPT, among them, has led tech companies to roll out ambitious plans for building more data centers and advanced chips.

But David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar, has said the government has no intention of bailing out the AI sector.

In other AI news, PYMNTS wrote last week that while the markets are concerned about the sky-high valuations of AI companies, CFOs are increasingly focused on the technology’s deployment.

The evolution of AI in payments, that report noted, began across existing use cases, with models woven into fraud detection, invoice matching and risk scoring. At first, these tools rested within well-understood parameters: “assistive” solutions aimed at helping human analysts spot anomalies in sprawling datasets.

“But real gains are beginning to materialize as AI crosses over into proactive, and predictive, territory,” the report said. “Seen through the chief financial officer … lens, AI’s capacity to improve financial outcomes falls into three broad categories: operational, strategic and relational.”