Sam Altman says OpenAI has fumbled at communicating AI benefits

By Rachel Metz, Bloomberg

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman says top artificial intelligence developers have fumbled at communicating the benefits of the technology, leaving the industry vulnerable to growing backlash from communities around the world.

“I think the industry has done a terrible job of this on the whole,” Altman said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “I think we have done a bad job ourselves, maybe better than some others, worse than some others.”

RELATED: Big Tech’s data center boom is igniting a political revolt in the Bay Area

Silicon Valley has confronted growing opposition to its plans for massive data centers to support AI. At least 75 data center projects, worth about $130 billion combined, were blocked or delayed by local opposition during the first three months of this year, according to research group Data Center Watch. That amount is near the total value of projects stalled by local resistance in all of 2025.

Altman added that he thinks the AI industry has not “done a great job” talking about how the technology that companies are building could enable creativity and entrepreneurship.

“It is very, very important to us that this technology is something where people get more power and more autonomy, not less,” he said. “I think people rightly get afraid when they feel like AI leaders may not quite want that for them.”