OpenAI has announced a National Community Compact and a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint, outlining commitments and policy proposals to make large-scale AI infrastructure development more accountable to local communities in the United States.
The announcement, made on November 5, comes as the expansion of AI data centers faces growing scrutiny over electricity consumption, water usage, environmental impact, and the financial burden on local communities.
OpenAI said the framework aims to ensure residents have a greater say in projects while sharing in the economic opportunities created by AI infrastructure.
Under the National Community Compact, every future compute campus owned and operated by OpenAI will have a local agreement reflecting community priorities.
The company has committed to engaging residents early in project planning, providing a local point of contact throughout a campus's lifecycle, and publishing annual progress reports.
OpenAI also pledged to pay the full cost of electricity consumed by its facilities and the infrastructure required to serve them. It will provide financial assurances before major spending begins to protect other electricity customers if a project is delayed, reduced, or canceled.
On environmental concerns, the company plans to develop water management plans for individual campuses, prioritize closed-loop or low-water cooling systems and disclose site-level water and electricity consumption. The company will also publish construction plans and independent noise studies before operations begin and annually afterward.
The company further said it would not use non-disclosure agreements with public officials, except for limited protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets and commercially sensitive information.
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Alongside its commitments, OpenAI has proposed federal, state, and local policies covering electricity costs, infrastructure investment, transparency and employment.
The blueprint recommends requiring large electricity consumers to cover additional costs they create for the power grid. It also suggests allowing utilities to reduce electricity supplied to compute campuses during periods of high demand.
OpenAI cited its planned Effingham County campus in Georgia, where an agreement with Georgia Power allows the utility to reduce electricity supplied to the facility by up to 1,000 megawatts during peak demand.
The proposal also calls for public disclosure of environmental impact, employment figures and tax incentives offered to infrastructure developers.
OpenAI said developers should work with local suppliers, trade unions and community colleges to prepare residents for construction, electrical, maintenance and infrastructure-related jobs.
The company highlighted two community investments. In Effingham County, Georgia, residents helped shape a USD 4.8 million grant providing free school meals to all 14,000 students. In Pike County, Ohio, families identified childcare as a priority, resulting in a joint USD 6 million commitment from OpenAI and SB Energy.
The company said the initiatives aim to ensure communities hosting AI infrastructure have a meaningful voice in development decisions and benefit from the industry's growth.