OpenAI wants to team up with governments to grow AI infrastructure

OpenAI is launching a program, OpenAI for Countries, that the company says will enable it to build out the local infrastructure needed to better serve international AI customers.

As a part of the new program, OpenAI will partner with governments to assist with efforts like building out data center capacity and customizing OpenAI’s products, including ChatGPT, for specific languages and local needs.

Funding for the program will come from OpenAI as well as from governments in each country, according to the startup. The goal is to pursue 10 international projects to start, but OpenAI hasn’t said where they’ll be located yet.

OpenAI said that it hopes to “spread democratic AI.” That essentially means it wants to convince other countries to use Western AI models — OpenAI in particular — instead of Chinese competitors.

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI for Countries is meant to complement the company’s AI data center push, Project Stargate, which is reportedly set to expand beyond the U.S. OpenAI for Countries may lean on Stargate infrastructure, for example, or perhaps even funding from Stargate investors.