OpenAI said Thursday it will not require public officials to sign nondisclosure agreements at the data center campuses it owns and operates, and that it will pay the full cost of the electricity and grid equipment those sites use (full release here).

The pledges come from a National Community Compact, paired with a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint that asks federal, state and local lawmakers to write similar rules for the whole industry. OpenAI will still allow narrow protections for security information, trade secrets and competitively sensitive material.

The release came two days after voters backed data center limits almost everywhere they were asked, and elected candidates at every level who favor curbs and more oversight of AI.

Gina Hinojosa, elected as Texas's first Democratic governor in more than three decades, has called for an immediate moratorium on data center development. Democratic gubernatorial wins from Georgia to Ohio and Pennsylvania could leave about half of proposed AI data center additions open to tougher local scrutiny. Data Center Watch says local opposition disrupted at least 45 projects worth $88 billion in the second quarter of 2026. OpenAI says it planned the announcement before the returns and had worked on it for months.

The details

Each future campus will get its own local compact with a common set of terms. On power, OpenAI says it will provide financial assurances before major spending begins, so other customers are protected if a project is delayed, shrunk or canceled. It will draw up a water plan for every site, favor closed-loop or low-water cooling, and publish site-level water and electricity use. Construction plans and independent noise studies will be released before operations start and again each year. OpenAI will also assign a local point of contact for the life of the campus and report publicly on its progress every year.

The jobs and spending terms are looser: OpenAI says it will publish the jobs it expects to create, work with unions and training providers, and report annually on hiring and apprenticeships. It also promises sustained investment in priorities residents choose. In Effingham County, Georgia, that produced a $4.8 million grant for free school meals for all 14,000 students in the county. In Pike County, Ohio, families picked childcare, which led to a joint $6 million commitment from OpenAI and SB Energy.

OpenAI also wants the same rules applied industry-wide. It asks state utility commissions to make large power users cover the costs they add to the grid and to protect other customers if a project falls through. It also wants utilities to connect campuses more easily when they can safely cut demand during shortages. OpenAI points to its planned Effingham County campus, where its agreement with Georgia Power lets the utility reduce power delivered to the site by up to 1,000 megawatts at times of high demand. For Congress, the blueprint asks for faster transmission upgrades and restored and expanded tax incentives for clean electricity. It also calls for public terms on any state or local tax breaks, with measurable commitments and a way to recover benefits if a developer falls short.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, said the plan combines steps the company has already taken, including its Stargate Community commitments from January and its Georgia and Ohio pledges, with ideas from talks with residents and officials in those states and Texas. He said many of these communities have been "burned by companies and others in the past," and acknowledged that some OpenAI projects may now be delayed. "If you're going to go into a community and you're going to want to build in that community, you do have to do it with the community and get the community input," he said. Voluntary promises only apply to OpenAI's own sites, which is why the company is pushing to turn them into law for everyone else.

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