Sam Altman says he gets why people don't want AI data centers in their backyard

Sam Altman says he gets why people don't want AI data centers in their backyard OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, says he gets why communities don't want AI data centers nearby — and suggested they may be better suited for the desert."I understand emotionally why people don't want data centers in their backyard in the same way that I don't really want a nuclear power plant next to my house, even though I know it's a super safe thing," Altman said during an episode of the "Invest Like The Best" podcast released Tuesday.Data centers, Altman told podcast host Patrick O'Shaughnessy, can be built "kind of anywhere.""We should just go put it off in the desert, around no one where no one wants to be," Altman said. "This is fine. The AI system is very happy to be there."An OpenAI spokesperson told Business Insider that Altman was making the case that, unlike many other types of economic activity, data centers can operate as effectively in remote locations as anywhere else with the right infrastructure.Altman's comments come as tech companies, including OpenAI, race to build massive data centers powering artificial intelligence across the United States. Some of the projects have faced fierce backlash from communities concerned about their environmental and economic impacts.Water use, electricity demand, and noise are among the common concerns raised by opponents of AI data center projects. During his interview on the podcast, Altman said the industry has made "a lot of progress with innovation on some of the concerns" around data centers, citing advances in cooling technology such as closed-loop systems."For example, years ago, we were evaporating water to cool these systems. They did tremendous amounts of water. And now we use these closed-loop systems, and a modern data center uses only as much water as an office building would for the kitchen, the bathrooms, and whatever," he said"On power, we are moving from energy sources that are burning fossil fuels to systems that are going to be powered by solar, nuclear," Altman said.Altman explained that the energy that flows through one data center "could power a small city" and added that he's been thinking about organizing field trips to the facilities."It is one thing to say, it is another thing to see a photo or a video of, and then it's a whole other thing to just stand up and be like, oh man, this is an unbelievable scale," he said. Read next Natalie is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Business News team.She was previously on BI's Legal Affairs team where she covered major cases out of state and federal court, as well as bankruptcy. Her coverage often focused on stories at the intersection of law, business, politics and technology. Natalie has covered Donald Trump’s criminal and civil cases, the wave of lawsuits against the second Trump administration, the indictment and criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the legal battles facing Elon Musk and his companies. Natalie came to Business Insider in June 2021 as a breaking news reporter, focusing on the most interesting angles around the trending news of the day. Natalie largely drove BI’s coverage around the fatal “Rust” shooting involving Alec Baldwin and the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito.Prior to joining BI, Natalie worked for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and The Brooklyn Paper. She has an extensive background covering crime and courts. During her more than 12-year journalism career, she did a stint covering the police beat out of the headquarters for the New York Police Department. Natalie, a Brooklyn native, graduated from Brooklyn College in 2012 with a journalism degree. Popular articlesWalmart and Amazon face legal trouble for using a points system to track and fire employees over absences: lawyersCelebrities who partied with Diddy may want to contact their lawyersAn unchecked AI could usher in a new dark ageAt Diddy's A-list 'white parties,' naked women were a staple — but that didn't seem to raise eyebrows at the timeThe illegal maneuvers the rich use to get richerOwner of ship that crashed into Baltimore bridge will likely try to invoke 1851 law used to cap damages after Titanic disaster AI Data Centers OpenAI More Sam Altman