OpenAI is already pitching 2028 hopefuls on how to talk about AI
OpenAI is actively lobbying prospective 2028 presidential candidates on AI messaging, with top lobbyist Chris Lehane arguing that opposing data center expansion could cede ground to China in the global AI race.
Why this matters: A major AI company is shaping how politicians talk about AI before most voters have thought about it at all. The framing Lehane is pushing — back data centers or lose to China — is a classic pressure move. It turns a legitimate policy debate about energy, land use, and local impact into a national security litmus test. That framing benefits OpenAI directly. When companies get to write the talking points candidates use, the people who actually live near data centers, or whose data trains these models, tend to get left out of the conversation.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
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