“Computing Campuses.”
That’s the latest AI newspeak.
This time, the proposed remark comes from OpenAI, whose spokesperson apparently confirmed to Business Insider on Sunday that this was its new preferred nomenclature.
“Compute campuses better describes the scale and role of the infrastructure we are building for AI,” said insiders, adding, “These are long-term investments in computing, energy infrastructure and skilled labor.”
Back in September, this emerging trend of rebranding AI-related concepts began, starting with the term “artificial intelligence” itself. President Trump has decided that he prefers the term “super intelligence”, has mandated its use among federal officers under his authority, and seems to have convinced many AI leaders to adopt it – although OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is notably absent from this list.
According to a Pew survey over the summer, few Americans have a positive view of the future of AI in society – at only 16%. So there’s an argument to be made that changing the name makes sense, assuming you hold the American people in such low regard that changing the name will help change public opinion.
Americans’ opinions about data centers have been on the decline in recent months, according to a Pew poll in September. This survey gathered opinions about data centers vis-à-vis the environment, utility costs, neighborhood quality of life, jobs, and tax revenue. Only 4% of Americans thought that data centers would positively affect all of these areas.
Linking the strategic political opponent with data centers has also become an important feature of electoral politics this year. Data centers are only starting to become an issue with partisans taking one clear side or the other, but calling an opponent a “data senator” — to cite just one recent example — has proven to be a great way to earn publicity. And calling someone a “Compute Campus Senator” certainly doesn’t have the same ring.
OpenAI’s spokesperson told Insider: “We want the communities that host this infrastructure to shape it and share in the opportunities it creates.”
Gizmodo reached out to OpenAI for confirmation of the rebrand. We will update when we hear back.