US Tech Giants Urge Easing of AI Export Controls to Compete with China

US tech argues secret to besting Chinese AI is... capitalism

Execs from AMD, Microsoft, and OpenAI tear into profit busting AI diffusion rules Execs from several top US tech companies, including Microsoft, AMD, and OpenAI, slammed the Biden administration's export rules for AI chips and said that winning the AI race against China hinges on making it easier, not harder, to use American technology. Their comments before the US Senate come as the Trump administration weighs sweeping changes to Biden-era export controls, which were set to cap sales of AI accelerators to most countries outside the US and a select few allies. In a senate hearing [video] Thursday, Microsoft President Brad Smith said, "The number one factor that will define whether the United States or China wins this race is whose technology is most broadly adopted in the rest of the world," said Microsoft President Brad Smith. He argued that the AI diffusion rules proposed by the prior administration tell the rest of the world that that they can't necessary count on the US to sell them the right goods for their AI needs. "How can you make a bet on suppliers if you're not confident that they'll be able to fulfill your needs?" AMD CEO Lisa Su echoed Smith's sentiments, warning that if American companies are not permitted to meet the AI needs of other nations, the US government may inadvertently drive them into the arms of Chinese suppliers. Today, the US produces the most advanced AI accelerators in the world, but China is catching up despite certain disadvantages, Su said. And you don't necessarily need the best chips to be a contender in the AI arena, she added. "Having the best chips is great, but even if you don't have the best chips, you can get a lot done," she said. Both Su and Smith agree that export controls, while necessary from a national security perspective to prevent power American technologies from falling into the wrong hands, would benefit from a lighter touch. "I think the conversation about export controls and rules should just be simple, easy to follow," Su said. Smith was more direct, suggesting that Uncle Sam scrap the compute limits proposed for so-called tier-2 nations. These nations include just about every country not already subject to US arms embargoes - and go way beyond the 18 countries on Uncle Sam's best-friends list. "We need, I believe, to get rid of the quantitative caps that were created for all of these tier-2 countries," he said. Smith and Su are hardly the first to call this tune. Executives from Nvidia and Cerebras have made similar arguments. "We need to accelerate the diffusion of American AI technology around the world," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said during a press conference earlier this month. "The policies and encouragement from the administration really need to support that." OpenAI boss Sam Altman also said he was "glad" to see the rules rescinded, in contrast to comments from rival Anthropic, which had advocated for tightening chip controls even further. "I agree there will need to be some constraints," he said. "But I think if our mental model is winning diffusion instead of stopping diffusion, that directionally seems right," he said. "Influence comes from people adopting US products and services up and down the stack -- maybe, most obviously, if they're using ChatGPT versus DeepSeek, but also if they're using US chips and US data center technology." During the more than three-hour discussion, Altman downplayed the threat of Chinese models like DeepSeek-R1 and emphasized the importance of combating models like these through competition. "We're going to release an open source model that, we believe, will be the leading model this summer, because we want people to build on the US stack," he said. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is signaling that change is indeed on the horizon. "The Biden AI rule is overly complex, overly bureaucratic, and would stymie American innovation," a Commerce Department spokeswoman told Reuters this week. "We will be replacing it with a much simpler rule that unleashes American innovation and ensures American AI dominance." Given the Trump administration's unpredictability so far with regard to foreign trade rules, it's hard to know what those rules will actually look like. Some analysts speculate that the president may seek to use AI accelerators as yet another bargaining chip where tariffs prove ineffective. The Biden-era rules were set to take effect May 15, so we'll find out before then. ®

Microsoft to urge senators to speed permitting for AI, boost government data access

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab President Brad Smith on Thursday will urge U.S. lawmakers to streamline federal permitting for artificial intelligence energy needs and open more government data sets for AI training, according to written testimony seen by Reuters. "America's advanced economy relies on 50-year-old infrastructure that cannot meet the increasing electricity demands driven by AI, reshoring of manufacturing, and increased electrification," Smith's written testimony for the Senate Commerce Committee AI hearing says. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will tell the committee that "as AI systems become more capable, people will want to use them even more. Meeting that demand requires more chips, training data, energy, and supercomputers." Reporting by David Shepardson Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence

US AI execs to give Congress policy wishlist for beating China

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - Top executives at American AI giants OpenAI, Microsoft and AMD are set to appear at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday and outline ways they believe Washington can stay ahead of Beijing in the artificial intelligence race. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to U.S. artificial intelligence after China's DeepSeek shocked the world with a high-quality, affordable AI model last year. The U.S. tech industry has seized on that development to lobby the Trump administration for more favorable policies, arguing that promoting worldwide use of AI that reflects democratic values is a matter of national interest. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, maker of flagship AI model ChatGPT, is expected to testify, as are Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, and Lisa Su, CEO of AI chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) (AMD.O), opens new tab. Altman is expected to testify about societal advances he expects AI to bring about. "This future can be almost unimaginably bright, but only if we take concrete steps to ensure that an American-led version of AI, built on democratic values like freedom and transparency, prevails over an authoritarian one," Altman will say, according to prepared remarks seen by Reuters. The development of AI has depended on specialized computer chips, huge amounts of data to train large-language models, vast amounts of energy and a technically skilled workforce. Smith is expected to testify that to succeed, the U.S. will need to support companies at all layers of the AI ecosystem, and partner with allies around the world, according to his prepared remarks. Deepseek, a Hangzhou-based upstart, stunned the world last year when it unveiled a powerful AI model competitive with the likes of OpenAI and Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab, but cheaper to run. The move was surprising against the backdrop of sweeping rules imposed by President Joe Biden's administration, aimed at cutting off China from American AI chips and capabilities, over fears Beijing could use the powerful technology to supercharge its military. The Trump administration has so far taken a similar approach, last month imposing new licensing requirements on shipments to China of AI chips made by Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and AMD that the companies designed to get around prior export restrictions. But the limitations have spurred criticism from industry participants and some lawmakers who say the rules hamstring U.S. companies and hand the lucrative Chinese AI market to companies like Huawei, which has designed a competitive AI chip known as Ascend. "The way to beat China in the AI race is to outrace them in innovation, not saddle AI developers with European-style regulations," Cruz said in a statement announcing the hearing. Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by David Gregorio Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence Jody Godoy Thomson Reuters Jody Godoy reports on tech policy and antitrust enforcement, including how regulators are responding to the rise of AI. Reach her at jody.godoy@thomsonreuters.com

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other US tech leaders testify to Congress on AI competition with China

WASHINGTON (AP) -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and executives from Microsoft and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices testified on Capitol Hill about the biggest opportunities, risks and needs facing an industry which lawmakers and technologists agree could fundamentally transform global business, culture and geopolitics. The hearing comes as the race to control the future of artificial intelligence is heating up between companies and countries. Altman's OpenAI is in a furious race to develop the best artificial intelligence model against tech rivals like Alphabet and Meta, as well as against those developed by Chinese competitors. "I believe this will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger," Altman said in his opening remarks about AI's potential to transform society. "For that to happen, investment in infrastructure is critical." Altman urged senators to help usher in the "dual revolutions" of artificial intelligence and energy production that "will change the world we live in, I think, in incredibly positive ways." The witnesses included Altman; Lisa Su, chief executive of semiconductor maker AMD; Michael Intrator, co-founder of AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. They four executives unanimously urged lawmakers to help streamline policy for AI-related projects and fundraising. The hearing spanned topics ranging from industry debates over chip performance, jobs, human relationships and power generation to grander questions about the global competition with China and the European Union. "China aims to lead the world in AI by 2030," said Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "In this race, the United States is facing a fork in the road. Do we go down the path that embraces our history of entrepreneurial freedom and technological innovation? Or do we adopt the command and control policies of Europe?" Senators were broadly sober in their questioning and united in their concern that the U.S. maintain its dominance in artificial intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties also raised concerns over cybersecurity, data privacy and AI's ability to create content that could confuse or mislead people. Some partisan fighting did arise. Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, pressed Su and Smith on whether the Biden administration's sustainable energy policies hindered the goal of producing more power for AI-related infrastructure. And Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, criticized cuts by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to federal funding for research and to agencies like the Energy Department's national laboratories and National Science Foundation, painting them as "a self sabotaging attack." "Does anyone truly have confidence that had DOGE been around decades ago, they would not have cut the project that created the internet as an example of wasteful, publicly funded research and development?" asked Duckworth. But despite some barbs, the hearing maintained a low-key tenor and some bipartisan joking as lawmakers and executives discussed the potential of a technology all present agreed would determine humanity's future. "Look, there is a race, but we need to understand what we're racing for," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, told the witnesses. "It's not just a sort of commercial race, so we can edge out our nearest competitor in the public sector or the private sector. We're trying to win a race so that American values prevail." Several of the executives warned against U.S. export controls that could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology. "We totally understand as an industry the importance of national security," Su said. But she added, if not able to "have our technology adopted in the rest of the world, there will be other technologies that will come to play." Those technologies are less advanced today but will mature over time, she said. Altman drew a direct connection between the United State's ability to attract global talent and ability to sell its products globally to national security and its international influence. "The leverage and the power the U.S. gets from having iPhones be the mobile device people most want, and Google being the search engine that people most want around the world is huge," Altman said. "We talk maybe less about how much people want to use chips and other infrastructure developed here, but I think it's no less important, and we should aim to have the entire U.S. stack be adopted by as much of the world as possible." Trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the AI industry, including California-based chipmakers Nvidia and AMD. The Trump administration announced in April that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips to China. Nvidia has said the tighter export controls will cost the company an extra $5.5 billion. AMD said after reporting its quarterly earnings this week that it will cost the firm $1.5 billion in lost revenue over the coming months. Still uncertain are the effects on additional AI chip controls set by former President Joe Biden's administration that are set to take effect next week targeting more than 100 countries. The policy drew strong opposition from Nvidia and other tech companies, while it was supported by others, including AI company Anthropic, as a way to prevent China's "sophisticated smuggling operations" to obtain chips from shell companies in third countries. The Commerce Department said in an email Thursday that Trump plans to replace Biden's "overly complex, overly bureaucratic" rule with a simpler one but didn't say when. The day before the hearing, Altman visited the Abilene, Texas, site of the massive Stargate data center project being built for OpenAI in collaboration with Oracle and other partners. The site was chosen for its potential access to a variety of energy resources, including wind and solar power. Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been "unbelievable" in incentivizing major AI projects. "I think that would be a good thing for other states to study," Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the "largest AI training facility in the world." But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI. "It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations," said Altman. "One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine." While the tech industry has long relied on data centers to run online services, from email and social media to financial transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to build and operate. A report released by the Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity. -- -- The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives. -- -- AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

OpenAI, Microsoft tell Senate 'no one country can win AI'

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More The Trump administration walked back an Executive Order from former President Joe Biden that created rules around the development and deployment of AI. Since then, the government has stepped back from regulating the technology. In a more than three-hour hearing at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, executives like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Coreweave co-founder and CEO Michael Intrator and Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith urged policymakers to ease the process of building infrastructure around AI development. The executives told policymakers that speeding up permitting could make building new data centers, power plants to energize data centers and even chip fabricators crucial in shoring up the AI Tech Stack and keeping the country competitive against China. They also spoke about the need for more skilled workers like electricians, easing software talent immigration and encouraging "AI diffusion" or the adoption of generative AI models in the U.S. and worldwide. Altman, fresh from visiting the company's $500 billion Stargate project in Texas, told senators that the U.S. is leading the charge in AI, but it needs more infrastructure like power plants to fuel its next phase. "I believe the next decade will be about abundant intelligence and abundant energy. Making sure that America leads in both of those, that we are able to usher in these dual revolutions that will change the world we live in incredibly positive ways is critical," Altman said. The hearing came as the Trump administration is determining how much influence the government will have in the AI space. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, chair of the committee, said he proposed creating an AI regulatory sandbox. Microsoft's Smith said in his written testimony that American AI companies need to continue innovating because " it is a race that no company or country can win by itself." Supporting the AI tech stack Microsoft's Smith laid out the AI Tech Stack, which he said shows how important each segment of the sector is to innovation. "We're all in this together. If the United States is gonna succeed in leading the world in AI, it requires infrastructure, it requires success at the platform level, it requires people who create applications," Smith said. He added, "Innovation will go faster with more infrastructure, faster permitting and more electricians." AMD's Su reiterated that "maintaining our lead actually requires excellence at every layer of the stack." "I think open ecosystems are really a cornerstone of U.S. leadership, and that allows ideas to come from everywhere and every part of the innovation sector," Su said. "It's reducing barriers to entry and strengthening security as well as creating a competitive marketplace for ideas." With AI models needing more and more GPUs for training, the need to improve the production of chips, build more data centers, and find ways to power them has become even more critical. The Chips and Science Act, a Biden-era law, was meant to jumpstart semiconductor production in the U.S., but making the needed chips to power the world's most powerful models locally is proving to be slow and expensive. In recent months, companies like Cerebras have announced plans to build more data centers to help process model training and inference. A break from current policies The Senate majority of Republican policymakers made it clear during the hearing that the Trump administration would prefer not to regulate AI development, preferring a more market-driven, hands-off approach. This administration has also pushed for more U.S.-focused growth, demanding businesses use American products and create more American jobs. However, the executives noted that for American AI to remain competitive, companies need access to international talent and, more importantly, clear export policies so models made in the U.S. can be attractive to other countries. "We need faster adoption, what people refer to as AI diffusion. The ability to put AI to work across every part of the American economy to boost productivity, to boost economic growth, to enable people to innovate in their work," Smith said. "If America is gonna lead the world, we need to connect with the world. Our global leadership relies on our ability to serve the world with the right approach and on our ability to sustain the trust of the rest of the world." He added that removing quantitative caps for tier two countries is essential because these policies "sent a message to 120 nations that couldn't count on us to provide the AI they want and need." Altman noted, "There will be great chips and models trained around the world," reiterating American companies' leading position in the space. There's some good news in the area of AI diffusion because while the hearing was ongoing, the Commerce Department announced it was modifying rules from the Biden administration that limited which countries could receive chips made by American companies. The rule was set to take effect on May 15. While the executives said government standards would be helpful, they decried any move to "pre-approve" model releases, similar to the EU. Open ecosystem Generative AI occupies a liminal space in tech regulation. On the one hand, the comparative lack of rules has allowed companies like OpenAI to develop technology without much fear of repercussions. On the other hand, AI, like the internet and social media before it, touches people's lives professionally and personally. In some ways, the executives veered away from how the Trump administration has positioned U.S. growth. The hearing showed that while AI companies want support from the government to speed up the process of expanding the AI infrastructure, they also need to be more open to the rest of the world. It requires talent from abroad. It needs to sell products and platforms to other countries. Social media commentary varied, with some pointing out that executives, in particular Altman, had different opinions on regulation before. Others noted that other countries might see where their own AI policies have failed.

Microsoft's Brad Smith, other tech execs give Congress AI wish list

Tech leaders representing four major players in artificial intelligence appeared before Congress on Thursday, urging looser regulation and heavier investment in energy to support the technology's growth. Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation probed Microsoft President Brad Smith, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others on the ethical and energy concerns with widespread AI adoption. But the theme running through most of the hearing was whether the U.S. was winning the AI race, especially against China. "It is very hard to say how far ahead we are," Altman said. Smith said in his testimony that to win the race, the federal government needs to support the private sector at every level. That means improving and building out the infrastructure needed to scale up AI, namely massive data centers and a modernized electrical grid. "The country must recruit and train skilled labor like electricians and pipe fitters that are in short supply," Smith wrote. "We all must summon the best of our researchers at national labs and universities, supported by federal basic research programs and partnerships that have become the envy of the world." During the hearing, Smith said some of the tightest regulations for building out an AI infrastructure come from the federal level. One example is permitting for data centers. "The number one challenge in the United States when it comes to permitting is not local, it's not state, it is the federal wetlands permit administered by the Army Corps of Engineers," he said. "We can typically get our state and local permits done in 6 to 9 months, the federal wetlands permit is taking often 18 to 24 months." If the Trump administration focused on that, Smith said, data center construction could accelerate. Microsoft, like other companies, has committed billions this year to build out its AI infrastructure. As of January, Microsoft was on track to pump $80 billion into AI-enabled data centers and other AI investments during its 2025 fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Outside of regulation, AI leaders don't want to be caught up in escalating trade wars. If the U.S. wants to be a global leader in AI, as Smith put it, then it has to be able to send its technology across the globe. "At the end of the day, the world wants to be able to build and deploy artificial intelligence in a very broad way," said Michael Intrator, CEO of CoreWeave, a cloud computing startup focused on high-performance systems. "If we do not step into that role, other technology will step in that role." Lisa Su, CEO of California-based hardware giant Advanced Micro Devices, said there's a "clear recognition" that the U.S. needs an export strategy for AI to make sure allies get chips and other technology without it being diverted to competing countries like China. Where the four tech leaders broke rank is on the issue of standards in AI. Sen. Maria Cantwell, the Washington Democrat serving as ranking member of the committee, asked the quartet whether the U.S. needed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to support developing standards in AI. Su, Intrator and Smith all said yes. "I don't think we need it," Altman said. "It can be helpful." When asked to support their answers, Smith said AI will need industry standards. "We will need American adoption of standards," he said. "We will need U.S. efforts to really ensure that the world buys into these standards."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other US tech leaders testify to Congress on AI competition with China

WASHINGTON (AP) -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and executives from Microsoft and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices testified on Capitol Hill about the biggest opportunities, risks and needs facing an industry which lawmakers and technologists agree could fundamentally transform global business, culture and geopolitics. The hearing comes as the race to control the future of artificial intelligence is heating up between companies and countries. Altman's OpenAI is in a furious race to develop the best artificial intelligence model against tech rivals like Alphabet and Meta, as well as against those developed by Chinese competitors. "I believe this will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger," Altman said in his opening remarks about AI's potential to transform society. "For that to happen, investment in infrastructure is critical." Altman urged senators to help usher in the "dual revolutions" of artificial intelligence and energy production that "will change the world we live in, I think, in incredibly positive ways." The witnesses included Altman; Lisa Su, chief executive of semiconductor maker AMD; Michael Intrator, co-founder of AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. They four executives unanimously urged lawmakers to help streamline policy for AI-related projects and fundraising. The hearing spanned topics ranging from industry debates over chip performance, jobs, human relationships and power generation to grander questions about the global competition with China and the European Union. "China aims to lead the world in AI by 2030," said Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "In this race, the United States is facing a fork in the road. Do we go down the path that embraces our history of entrepreneurial freedom and technological innovation? Or do we adopt the command and control policies of Europe?" Senators were broadly sober in their questioning and united in their concern that the U.S. maintain its dominance in artificial intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties also raised concerns over cybersecurity, data privacy and AI's ability to create content that could confuse or mislead people. Some partisan fighting did arise. Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, pressed Su and Smith on whether the Biden administration's sustainable energy policies hindered the goal of producing more power for AI-related infrastructure. And Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, criticized cuts by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to federal funding for research and to agencies like the Energy Department's national laboratories and National Science Foundation, painting them as "a self sabotaging attack." "Does anyone truly have confidence that had DOGE been around decades ago, they would not have cut the project that created the internet as an example of wasteful, publicly funded research and development?" asked Duckworth. But despite some barbs, the hearing maintained a low-key tenor and some bipartisan joking as lawmakers and executives discussed the potential of a technology all present agreed would determine humanity's future. "Look, there is a race, but we need to understand what we're racing for," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, told the witnesses. "It's not just a sort of commercial race, so we can edge out our nearest competitor in the public sector or the private sector. We're trying to win a race so that American values prevail." Trade policy and AI Several of the executives warned against U.S. export controls that could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology. "We totally understand as an industry the importance of national security," Su said. But she added, if not able to "have our technology adopted in the rest of the world, there will be other technologies that will come to play." Those technologies are less advanced today but will mature over time, she said. Altman drew a direct connection between the United State's ability to attract global talent and ability to sell its products globally to national security and its international influence. "The leverage and the power the U.S. gets from having iPhones be the mobile device people most want, and Google being the search engine that people most want around the world is huge," Altman said. "We talk maybe less about how much people want to use chips and other infrastructure developed here, but I think it's no less important, and we should aim to have the entire U.S. stack be adopted by as much of the world as possible." Trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the AI industry, including California-based chipmakers Nvidia and AMD. The Trump administration announced in April that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips to China. Nvidia has said the tighter export controls will cost the company an extra $5.5 billion. AMD said after reporting its quarterly earnings this week that it will cost the firm $1.5 billion in lost revenue over the coming months. Still uncertain are the effects on additional AI chip controls set by former President Joe Biden's administration that are set to take effect next week targeting more than 100 countries. The policy drew strong opposition from Nvidia and other tech companies, while it was supported by others, including AI company Anthropic, as a way to prevent China's "sophisticated smuggling operations" to obtain chips from shell companies in third countries. The Commerce Department said in an email Thursday that Trump plans to replace Biden's "overly complex, overly bureaucratic" rule with a simpler one but didn't say when. AI data center expansion and state competition The day before the hearing, Altman visited the Abilene, Texas, site of the massive Stargate data center project being built for OpenAI in collaboration with Oracle and other partners. The site was chosen for its potential access to a variety of energy resources, including wind and solar power. Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been "unbelievable" in incentivizing major AI projects. "I think that would be a good thing for other states to study," Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the "largest AI training facility in the world." But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI. "It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations," said Altman. "One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine." While the tech industry has long relied on data centers to run online services, from email and social media to financial transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to build and operate. A report released by the Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity. -- -- The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives. -- -- AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

OpenAI CEO, other US tech leaders testify to Congress on AI competition with China

WASHINGTON -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and executives from Microsoft and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices testified on Capitol Hill about the biggest opportunities, risks and needs facing an industry which lawmakers and technologists agree could fundamentally transform global business, culture and geopolitics. The hearing comes as the race to control the future of artificial intelligence is heating up between companies and countries. Altman's OpenAI is in a furious race to develop the best artificial intelligence model against tech rivals like Alphabet and Meta, as well as against those developed by Chinese competitors. "I believe this will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger," Altman said in his opening remarks about AI's potential to transform society. "For that to happen, investment in infrastructure is critical." Altman urged senators to help usher in the "dual revolutions" of artificial intelligence and energy production that "will change the world we live in, I think, in incredibly positive ways." The witnesses included Altman; Lisa Su, chief executive of semiconductor maker AMD; Michael Intrator, co-founder of AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. They four executives unanimously urged lawmakers to help streamline policy for AI-related projects and fundraising. The hearing spanned topics ranging from industry debates over chip performance, jobs, human relationships and power generation to grander questions about the global competition with China and the European Union. "China aims to lead the world in AI by 2030," said Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "In this race, the United States is facing a fork in the road. Do we go down the path that embraces our history of entrepreneurial freedom and technological innovation? Or do we adopt the command and control policies of Europe?" Senators were broadly sober in their questioning and united in their concern that the U.S. maintain its dominance in artificial intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties also raised concerns over cybersecurity, data privacy and AI's ability to create content that could confuse or mislead people. Some partisan fighting did arise. Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, pressed Su and Smith on whether the Biden administration's sustainable energy policies hindered the goal of producing more power for AI-related infrastructure. And Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, criticized cuts by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to federal funding for research and to agencies like the Energy Department's national laboratories and National Science Foundation, painting them as "a self sabotaging attack." "Does anyone truly have confidence that had DOGE been around decades ago, they would not have cut the project that created the internet as an example of wasteful, publicly funded research and development?" asked Duckworth. But despite some barbs, the hearing maintained a low-key tenor and some bipartisan joking as lawmakers and executives discussed the potential of a technology all present agreed would determine humanity's future. "Look, there is a race, but we need to understand what we're racing for," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, told the witnesses. "It's not just a sort of commercial race, so we can edge out our nearest competitor in the public sector or the private sector. We're trying to win a race so that American values prevail." Several of the executives warned against U.S. export controls that could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology. "We totally understand as an industry the importance of national security," Su said. But she added, if not able to "have our technology adopted in the rest of the world, there will be other technologies that will come to play." Those technologies are less advanced today but will mature over time, she said. Altman drew a direct connection between the United State's ability to attract global talent and ability to sell its products globally to national security and its international influence. "The leverage and the power the U.S. gets from having iPhones be the mobile device people most want, and Google being the search engine that people most want around the world is huge," Altman said. "We talk maybe less about how much people want to use chips and other infrastructure developed here, but I think it's no less important, and we should aim to have the entire U.S. stack be adopted by as much of the world as possible." Trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the AI industry, including California-based chipmakers Nvidia and AMD. The Trump administration announced in April that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips to China. Nvidia has said the tighter export controls will cost the company an extra $5.5 billion. AMD said after reporting its quarterly earnings this week that it will cost the firm $1.5 billion in lost revenue over the coming months. Still uncertain are the effects on additional AI chip controls set by former President Joe Biden's administration that are set to take effect next week targeting more than 100 countries. The policy drew strong opposition from Nvidia and other tech companies, while it was supported by others, including AI company Anthropic, as a way to prevent China's "sophisticated smuggling operations" to obtain chips from shell companies in third countries. The Commerce Department said in an email Thursday that Trump plans to replace Biden's "overly complex, overly bureaucratic" rule with a simpler one but didn't say when. The day before the hearing, Altman visited the Abilene, Texas, site of the massive Stargate data center project being built for OpenAI in collaboration with Oracle and other partners. The site was chosen for its potential access to a variety of energy resources, including wind and solar power. Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been "unbelievable" in incentivizing major AI projects. "I think that would be a good thing for other states to study," Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the "largest AI training facility in the world." But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI. "It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations," said Altman. "One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine." While the tech industry has long relied on data centers to run online services, from email and social media to financial transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to build and operate. A report released by the Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity. -- -- The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives. -- -- AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

US AI Execs to Give Congress Policy Wishlist for Beating China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top executives at American AI giants OpenAI, Microsoft and AMD are set to appear at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday and outline ways they believe Washington can stay ahead of Beijing in the artificial intelligence race. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to U.S. artificial intelligence after China's DeepSeek shocked the world with a high-quality, affordable AI model last year. The U.S. tech industry has seized on that development to lobby the Trump administration for more favorable policies, arguing that promoting worldwide use of AI that reflects democratic values is a matter of national interest. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, maker of flagship AI model ChatGPT, is expected to testify, as are Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, and Lisa Su, CEO of AI chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Altman is expected to testify about societal advances he expects AI to bring about. "This future can be almost unimaginably bright, but only if we take concrete steps to ensure that an American-led version of AI, built on democratic values like freedom and transparency, prevails over an authoritarian one," Altman will say, according to prepared remarks seen by Reuters. The development of AI has depended on specialized computer chips, huge amounts of data to train large-language models, vast amounts of energy and a technically skilled workforce. Smith is expected to testify that to succeed, the U.S. will need to support companies at all layers of the AI ecosystem, and partner with allies around the world, according to his prepared remarks. Deepseek, a Hangzhou-based upstart, stunned the world last year when it unveiled a powerful AI model competitive with the likes of OpenAI and Meta Platforms, but cheaper to run. The move was surprising against the backdrop of sweeping rules imposed by President Joe Biden's administration, aimed at cutting off China from American AI chips and capabilities, over fears Beijing could use the powerful technology to supercharge its military. The Trump administration has so far taken a similar approach, last month imposing new licensing requirements on shipments to China of AI chips made by Nvidia and AMD that the companies designed to get around prior export restrictions. But the limitations have spurred criticism from industry participants and some lawmakers who say the rules hamstring U.S. companies and hand the lucrative Chinese AI market to companies like Huawei, which has designed a competitive AI chip known as Ascend. "The way to beat China in the AI race is to outrace them in innovation, not saddle AI developers with European-style regulations," Cruz said in a statement announcing the hearing. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Other US Tech Leaders Testify to Congress on AI Competition With China

WASHINGTON (AP) -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and executives from Microsoft and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices testified on Capitol Hill about the biggest opportunities, risks and needs facing an industry which lawmakers and technologists agree could fundamentally transform global business, culture and geopolitics. The hearing comes as the race to control the future of artificial intelligence is heating up between companies and countries. Altman's OpenAI is in a furious race to develop the best artificial intelligence model against tech rivals like Alphabet and Meta, as well as against those developed by Chinese competitors. "I believe this will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger," Altman said in his opening remarks about AI's potential to transform society. "For that to happen, investment in infrastructure is critical." Altman urged senators to help usher in the "dual revolutions" of artificial intelligence and energy production that "will change the world we live in, I think, in incredibly positive ways." The witnesses included Altman; Lisa Su, chief executive of semiconductor maker AMD; Michael Intrator, co-founder of AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. They four executives unanimously urged lawmakers to help streamline policy for AI-related projects and fundraising. The hearing spanned topics ranging from industry debates over chip performance, jobs, human relationships and power generation to grander questions about the global competition with China and the European Union. "China aims to lead the world in AI by 2030," said Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "In this race, the United States is facing a fork in the road. Do we go down the path that embraces our history of entrepreneurial freedom and technological innovation? Or do we adopt the command and control policies of Europe?" Senators were broadly sober in their questioning and united in their concern that the U.S. maintain its dominance in artificial intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties also raised concerns over cybersecurity, data privacy and AI's ability to create content that could confuse or mislead people. Some partisan fighting did arise. Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, pressed Su and Smith on whether the Biden administration's sustainable energy policies hindered the goal of producing more power for AI-related infrastructure. And Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, criticized cuts by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to federal funding for research and to agencies like the Energy Department's national laboratories and National Science Foundation, painting them as "a self sabotaging attack." "Does anyone truly have confidence that had DOGE been around decades ago, they would not have cut the project that created the internet as an example of wasteful, publicly funded research and development?" asked Duckworth. But despite some barbs, the hearing maintained a low-key tenor and some bipartisan joking as lawmakers and executives discussed the potential of a technology all present agreed would determine humanity's future. "Look, there is a race, but we need to understand what we're racing for," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, told the witnesses. "It's not just a sort of commercial race, so we can edge out our nearest competitor in the public sector or the private sector. We're trying to win a race so that American values prevail." Trade policy and AI Several of the executives warned against U.S. export controls that could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology. "We totally understand as an industry the importance of national security," Su said. But she added, if not able to "have our technology adopted in the rest of the world, there will be other technologies that will come to play." Those technologies are less advanced today but will mature over time, she said. Altman drew a direct connection between the United State's ability to attract global talent and ability to sell its products globally to national security and its international influence. "The leverage and the power the U.S. gets from having iPhones be the mobile device people most want, and Google being the search engine that people most want around the world is huge," Altman said. "We talk maybe less about how much people want to use chips and other infrastructure developed here, but I think it's no less important, and we should aim to have the entire U.S. stack be adopted by as much of the world as possible." Trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the AI industry, including California-based chipmakers Nvidia and AMD. The Trump administration announced in April that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips to China. Nvidia has said the tighter export controls will cost the company an extra $5.5 billion. AMD said after reporting its quarterly earnings this week that it will cost the firm $1.5 billion in lost revenue over the coming months. Still uncertain are the effects on additional AI chip controls set by former President Joe Biden's administration that are set to take effect next week targeting more than 100 countries. The policy drew strong opposition from Nvidia and other tech companies, while it was supported by others, including AI company Anthropic, as a way to prevent China's "sophisticated smuggling operations" to obtain chips from shell companies in third countries. The Commerce Department said in an email Thursday that Trump plans to replace Biden's "overly complex, overly bureaucratic" rule with a simpler one but didn't say when. AI data center expansion and state competition The day before the hearing, Altman visited the Abilene, Texas, site of the massive Stargate data center project being built for OpenAI in collaboration with Oracle and other partners. The site was chosen for its potential access to a variety of energy resources, including wind and solar power. Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been "unbelievable" in incentivizing major AI projects. "I think that would be a good thing for other states to study," Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the "largest AI training facility in the world." But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI. "It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations," said Altman. "One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine." While the tech industry has long relied on data centers to run online services, from email and social media to financial transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to build and operate. A report released by the Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity. -- -- The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives. -- -- AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Lawmakers push tech leaders on AI, energy in race with China

Leaders from Silicon Valley were met Thursday with a new tone from Congress, where Republican lawmakers urged policymakers to prioritize tech innovation over regulations. Over the course of more than three hours, four major technology leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, pitched their ideas to senators on how to stay ahead of China in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Altman warned the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that the U.S. is ahead now, but China might not be that far behind. "It is our belief that the American models including some models from OpenAI, Google and others are the best models in the world. It's very hard to say how far ahead we are, but I would say not a huge amount of time," Altman said during the hearing titled "Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation." Other witnesses were Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, CEO of semiconductor maker AMD Lisa Su, and Michael Intrator, co-founder of AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave. To keep ahead of China, Altman and the other witnesses called on Congress to prioritize AI infrastructure like data centers, training workers like electricians to help build these products and the need for open and broad access to public data. A 'light-touch' approach While the hearing touched upon a variety of topics from AI's energy use to discrimination in models, the push for a light-handed approach underscored both witness testimony and questions from mostly GOP lawmakers. "Adopting a light-touch regulatory style for AI will require Congress to work alongside the president. ... We need to advance legislation that promotes long-term AI growth and innovation," Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in his opening remarks. Cruz called out Europe's regulation-heavy stance, warning it "killed tech in Europe." The tech leaders echoed this idea, while noting they would still support a streamlined federal approach that would make clear the rules and speed up development. "One federal framework that is light touch that we can understand and lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for seems important and fine," Altman said, later noting a state-by-state approach would be "burdensome." While more than 100 bills were introduced last Congress to place new rules and guardrails on AI, very few made it past the finish line. States have taken the matter into their own hands, creating a patchwork of legislation for companies to deal with. Altman's support for this approach is a sharp reversal from two years ago, when he appeared before a Democratic-majority Congress and emphasized the need for regulation and guardians on AI development. Two years later, Republicans and President Trump are back in control, with the message of prioritizing innovation over regulation to lead in the global tech space. Altman signaled an alignment with this approach, at one point going further than the other tech leaders. When asked by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) if the National Institute of Standards and Technology should set standards for AI model, Altman said, "I don't think we need it. It can be helpful." The other witnesses said yes when asked. Altman later said he would support a "risk-based approach" to regulations when suggested by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). The need for infrastructure, energy The conversation took various twists and turns, but witnesses usually came back to the need to build and power the infrastructure used for AI development. "We are moving towards a period of this race where the size, the magnitude of the infrastructure that is being required to move our artificial intelligence, the labs that are building it, the companies that are building it forward at the velocity that is necessary is going to be a specific challenge," Intrator said. "It's tough, and it will get harder as we move through time," he added. "Because the existing infrastructure that does have opportunity ... some level of elasticity, is going to be consumed and once that is consumed," he added. Smith said he hopes the permitting process for data centers will be sped up to accelerate this process. Altman touted the Stargate investment project as a part of this goal. The project, launched with Trump, OpenAI and the CEOs of Oracle and SoftBank, is intended to invest up to $500 billion in American infrastructure. The OpenAI co-founder's appearance on Capitol Hill comes one day after he visited one of the Stargate projects underway in Abilene, Texas. To further boost this project, Altman said OpenAI will offer a program where it will help countries build up their data center capacity in exchange for the country's investment in Stargate. Smith with Microsoft took this call a step further, telling senators the country must recruit and train skilled labor like electricians and pipe fitters, along with researchers at national labs and universities to speed up the construction and growth of the data centers. "The United States needs hundreds of thousands of new electricians, something we should all want to get behind," Cantwell said. Altman downplays energy concerns Democrats on the committee took a more cautious approach when it came to the companies' demand for more energy supply. Multiple party members hammered witnesses over the environmental impact of data centers and AI infrastructure. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the chamber's most aggressive advocates for action on climate change, pressed the witnesses on how the design, training and deployment of AI models pose a "real risk for our environment." "The massive data centers that are critical for AI development require substantial amounts of electricity, putting stress on the grid and potentially raising costs for consumers," Markey said. "The truth is we know too little about both the environmental costs and benefits of AI; Mr. Altman, do you agree that the federal government should help with studying and measuring the environmental impact of AI?" Markey asked. "I think studying and measuring is usually a good thing; I do think that the conversation about the environmental impact of AI and the relative challenges and benefits has gotten somewhat out of whack," Altman responded. Altman suggested AI can be used to help address climate and environmental challenges, a more commonly used argument by AI developers to defend the vast amounts of energy the technology requires. "Yes, AI may find a cure for cancer -- it may -- but AI could also help to contribute to a climate disaster. That's also equally true," Markey said.

Microsoft, OpenAI to urge senators to speed power supply permitting, boost government data access

Microsoft and other AI leaders on Thursday will urge US lawmakers to streamline federal permitting for artificial intelligence energy needs and open more government data sets for AI training, according to written testimony reviewed by Reuters. "America's advanced economy relies on 50-year-old infrastructure that cannot meet the increasing electricity demands driven by AI, reshoring of manufacturing, and increased electrification," Microsoft President Brad Smith's written testimony says for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on "Winning the AI Race". OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will tell senators that as AI systems improve people will want to use them more, and meeting that demand will require more chips, training data, energy and supercomputers. "We want to build a brain for the world and make it super easy for people to use it, with common-sense restrictions to prevent harm," Altman's testimony says. CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator's written testimony highlights the energy-intensity of AI computation, citing an Energy Department estimate that data centers' consumption could rise to 12% of US electricity by 2028 from 4.4% in 2023. "Millions of hours of training, billions of inference queries, trillions of model parameters, and continuous dynamic scaling are all driving an insatiable hunger for compute and energy that borders on exponential," he said. He called for efforts "to streamline the permitting process to enable the addition of new sources of generation and the transmission infrastructure to deliver it." AMD CEO Lisa Su will tell senators leading in AI requires "rapidly building data centers at scale and powering them with reliable, affordable, and clean energy sources." She added "moving faster also means moving AI beyond the cloud. To ensure every American benefits, AI must be built into the devices we use every day and made as accessible and dependable as electricity." Smith called for opening US government data sets for AI training, citing actions by China and the United Kingdom. "The federal government remains one of the largest untapped sources of high-quality and high-volume data," Smith said. "By making government data readily available for AI training, the United States can significantly accelerate the advancement of AI capabilities."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other US tech leaders testify to Congress on AI competition with China

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and executives from Microsoft and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices testified on Capitol Hill about the biggest opportunities, risks and needs facing an industry which lawmakers and technologists agree could fundamentally transform global business, culture and geopolitics. The hearing comes as the race to control the future of artificial intelligence is heating up between companies and countries. Altman's OpenAI is in a furious race to develop the best artificial intelligence model against tech rivals like Alphabet and Meta, as well as against those developed by Chinese competitors. "I believe this will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger," Altman said in his opening remarks about AI's potential to transform society. "For that to happen, investment in infrastructure is critical." Altman urged senators to help usher in the "dual revolutions" of artificial intelligence and energy production that "will change the world we live in, I think, in incredibly positive ways." The witnesses included Altman; Lisa Su, chief executive of semiconductor maker AMD; Michael Intrator, co-founder of AI cloud computing startup CoreWeave; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft. The four executives unanimously urged lawmakers to help streamline policy for AI-related projects and fundraising. The hearing spanned topics ranging from industry debates over chip performance, jobs, human relationships and power generation to grander questions about the global competition with China and the European Union. "China aims to lead the world in AI by 2030," said Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "In this race, the United States is facing a fork in the road. Do we go down the path that embraces our history of entrepreneurial freedom and technological innovation? Or do we adopt the command and control policies of Europe?" Senators were broadly sober in their questioning and united in their concern that the U.S. maintain its dominance in artificial intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties also raised concerns over cybersecurity, data privacy and AI's ability to create content that could confuse or mislead people. Some partisan fighting did arise. Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, pressed Su and Smith on whether the Biden administration's sustainable energy policies hindered the goal of producing more power for AI-related infrastructure. And Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, criticized cuts by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to federal funding for research and to agencies like the Energy Department's national laboratories and National Science Foundation, painting them as "a self sabotaging attack." "Does anyone truly have confidence that had DOGE been around decades ago, they would not have cut the project that created the internet as an example of wasteful, publicly funded research and development?" asked Duckworth. But despite some barbs, the hearing maintained a low-key tenor and some bipartisan joking as lawmakers and executives discussed the potential of a technology all present agreed would determine humanity's future. "Look, there is a race, but we need to understand what we're racing for," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, told the witnesses. "It's not just a sort of commercial race, so we can edge out our nearest competitor in the public sector or the private sector. We're trying to win a race so that American values prevail." Trade policy and AI Several of the executives warned against U.S. export controls that could end up pushing other countries toward China's AI technology. "We totally understand as an industry the importance of national security," Su said. But she added, if not able to "have our technology adopted in the rest of the world, there will be other technologies that will come to play." Those technologies are less advanced today but will mature over time, she said. Altman drew a direct connection between the ability of the U.S. to attract global talent and sell its products globally to national security and its international influence. "The leverage and the power the U.S. gets from having iPhones be the mobile device people most want, and Google being the search engine that people most want around the world is huge," Altman said. "We talk maybe less about how much people want to use chips and other infrastructure developed here, but I think it's no less important, and we should aim to have the entire U.S. stack be adopted by as much of the world as possible." Trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the AI industry, including California-based chipmakers Nvidia and AMD. The Trump administration announced in April that it would restrict sales of Nvidia's H20 chips and AMD's MI308 chips to China. Nvidia has said the tighter export controls will cost the company an extra $5.5 billion. AMD said after reporting its quarterly earnings this week that it will cost the firm $1.5 billion in lost revenue over the coming months. Still uncertain are additional AI chip controls set by former President Joe Biden's administration that are set to take effect next week targeting more than 100 countries, including a number of U.S. allies. The policy drew strong opposition from Nvidia and other tech companies, while it was supported by others, including AI company Anthropic, as a way to prevent China's "sophisticated smuggling operations" to obtain chips from shell companies in third countries. The Commerce Department said in an email Thursday that Trump plans to replace Biden's "overly complex, overly bureaucratic" rule with a simpler one but didn't say when. AI data centre expansion and state competition The day before the hearing, Altman visited the Abilene, Texas, site of the massive Stargate data centre project being built for OpenAI in collaboration with Oracle and other partners. The site was chosen for its potential access to a variety of energy resources, including wind and solar power. Altman, during the hearing, said that Texas had been "unbelievable" in incentivizing major AI projects. "I think that would be a good thing for other states to study," Altman said. He predicted that the Abilene site would be the "largest AI training facility in the world." But Altman also later cautioned against a patchwork regulatory framework for AI. "It is very difficult to imagine us figuring out how to comply with 50 different sets of regulations," said Altman. "One federal framework that is light touch, that we can understand, and it lets us move with the speed that this moment calls for, seems important and fine." While the tech industry has long relied on data centres to run online services, from email and social media to financial transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to build and operate. A report released by the Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity needed for data centres in the U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity.

US must increase exports, improve infrastructure to beat China, AI executives say

Top executives at American AI giants OpenAI, Microsoft and Advanced Micro Devices said at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday (May 8) that while the U.S. is ahead in the artificial-intelligence race, Washington needs to boost infrastructure and champion AI chip exports to stay ahead of Beijing. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to U.S. artificial intelligence after China's DeepSeek shocked the world with a high-quality, affordable AI model last year and as Huawei, long in Washington's crosshairs, unveiled an advanced AI chip. The U.S. tech industry has seized on those concerns to lobby the Trump administration for more favorable policies including loosened export restrictions on AI chips, arguing that promoting worldwide use of AI that reflects democratic values is a matter of national interest.

Sam Altman Says 'Can't Wrap Our Heads Around' The Size Of The AI Revolution, Calls For 'Humility And Caution' To Guide The Future

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter OpenAI chief Sam Altman told a Senate Commerce panel that the artificial-intelligence boom "will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger," a shift so profound that even its architects "can't quite wrap our heads around" where it leads. What Happened: Pressed by Sen. John Fetterman about the so-called singularity -- the moment machines outstrip human intelligence -- Altman replied, "I am incredibly excited about the rate of progress, but I also am cautious ... I feel small next to it," calling AI "among the biggest, maybe the biggest technological revolutions humanity will have ever produced." He stressed that society will adapt, "figure how to use these tools to do things we could never do before," yet must approach the new era "with humility and some caution." For Altman, the path remains thrilling but opaque: "These are going to be tools capable of things we can't quite wrap our heads around ... some people call that singularity ... it feels like a new era of human history." See also: Elon Musk Says 'We Didn't Come Up With The Name Tesla' -- Bought It For $75K After Sending 'The Nicest Guy' To Camp Out At The Owner's Doorstep Why It Matters: The remarks came during a hearing on U.S. competitiveness in AI that also featured executives from Microsoft, AMD and CoreWeave, according to Reuters, urging lighter regulation and heavy infrastructure spending to keep pace with China. According to a separate report by The Washington Post, lawmakers of both parties echoed those fears while probing skyrocketing power demands from data centers and the risk of AI-generated deepfakes. Altman's uncertainty highlights a broader debate over super-intelligence once championed by futurists like Ray Kurzweil and, more recently, flagged by ex-Google chief Eric Schmidt, who predicted AI could put a "smartest human in every pocket" by 2031. Former OpenAI employees warned last year that the company was sidelining safety, a worry that soon echoed in Washington. Five senators wrote to Altman at the time demanding details on how the firm plans to keep its powerful AI models in check. The lawmakers flagged alleged retaliation against internal whistleblowers and pressed Altman to prove safety remains a priority as OpenAI partners with the U.S. government. Their letter joined a growing chorus of experts, including co-founder Elon Musk, who say unchecked AI could carry grave risks for humanity. Sam Altman | Photo courtesy: jamesonwu1972 / Shutterstock.com Read next: Nvidia Modifies H20 Chip For China After US Restrictions Block Sales, Aims To Deliver New Version By July: Report Got Questions? AskWhich AI companies will thrive post-regulation?How could data center stocks perform with AI growth?What tech firms stand to gain from AI advancements?Are semiconductor manufacturers ready for AI demands?Which investments will benefit from AI infrastructure needs?How will Microsoft adjust to AI's rapid evolution?Which emerging tech companies might lead in AI innovation?What financial instruments can hedge against AI risks?How will regulations impact AI startups financially?Which industries could be disrupted by AI advancements?Powered ByMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Sam Altman Tells Congress US Must Pursue 'Sensible Regulation,' Avoid 'Silly Mistake' To Stay Ahead Of China In AI Race: 'It's Hard To Say How Far Ahead We Are...' - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

On Thursday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared before Congress for the first time in two years, delivering a clear message: The U.S must focus on innovation, not overregulation, if it hopes to maintain its lead over China in artificial intelligence. What Happened: Altman, dressed conservatively in a dark suit and blue tie, faced a group of lawmakers during the Capitol Hill hearing, reported Fortune. In response to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) about how close China is to U.S. AI capabilities, Altman said, "It's hard to say how far ahead we are, but I would say not a huge amount of time." See Also: Elon Musk Says Will Come As A 'Surprise To Most' As China's Economy Surpasses US And EU Amid Rising Tariffs And Growing Recession Fears Altman added that models developed by OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google, and other U.S. companies are currently the best in the world, but staying ahead requires "sensible regulation" that "does not slow us down." This is not rocket science, Altman stated, adding, "We just need to keep doing the things that have worked for so long and not make a silly mistake." Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Why It's Important: Altman's testimony marks a striking shift from his 2023 appearance, when he focused on AI safety and called for strong government oversight to manage the risks of powerful AI models. With China aggressively investing in AI development, Altman argued that the U.S. needs to strengthen its capabilities to secure a leadership position in this critical technology. While some lawmakers raised questions about OpenAI's business practices, the overall tone of the hearing was supportive, reflecting bipartisan recognition of the stakes involved in the U.S.-China AI race, the report said. Earlier this week, OpenAI also named Instacart CEO Fidji Simo as its first CEO of Applications, a newly created role reporting directly to Altman. ChatGPT-parent has also reportedly informed investors that it intends to reduce the portion of its revenue shared with Microsoft Corporation MSFT. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Read Next: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Warns Recession Is Best-Case Outcome Of Trump Trade War Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Image Via Shutterstock GOOGAlphabet Inc$156.560.52%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum33.41Growth66.52Quality87.61Value53.11Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewGOOGLAlphabet Inc$155.040.49%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$438.580.09%Got Questions? AskWhich AI companies might benefit from less regulation?How could OpenAI's strategy impact investors?Will Alphabet's AI advancements lead to stock gains?Which tech stocks are poised for growth in AI?How might Microsoft adapt to changes in revenue sharing?What investment opportunities arise from U.S.-China AI competition?How will Instacart's new leadership influence OpenAI?Could favorable regulations boost U.S. tech firms in AI?Which emerging AI technologies are worth investing in?What impact will Congress have on the AI market?Powered ByMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tech Leaders Urge Congress for 'Light-Touch' AI Regulations | PYMNTS.com

Power and talent are the new bottlenecks for AI, as leaders stressed the need for faster energy permitting, expanded power grids and workforce development. Top executives from OpenAI, Microsoft, AMD and CoreWeave urged lawmakers at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday (May 8) to support the nation's artificial intelligence efforts through "light-touch" regulations. "The stakes could not be higher -- and Congress is right that the United States must lead the way," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in Washington, D.C. The hearing, "Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation," revealed the companies' common priorities to accelerate infrastructure investment; build a skilled AI workforce, including high-skilled immigration; and speed up permitting for power plants. In a largely chummy hearing -- at one point a senator informally called Altman "Sam" instead of "Mr. Altman" -- lawmakers asked the executives what the government can do to stay ahead in AI and keep China at bay. Altman said a "light-touch regulatory framework," initiatives to support AI infrastructure and supply chains, the easing of the permitting process and getting more energy online are things the tech sector needs. "We'll need your help," Altman told Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who made a pitch for AI data center investments in his state. Microsoft President Brad Smith said clarifying rules around data used for training would be helpful. There have been several lawsuits over copyrighted material being used for AI training without compensation to the creators. Smith gave the example of Shakespeare's literary works. People read Shakespeare and are inspired by the Bard to create their own content. Such content should be "fair use" for AI model training. Read also: AI Regulations in States Shift to Pro-Innovation, Not Risk Mitigation Throughout the hearing, a recurring concern among senators was China gaining on the U.S. in the AI race and the implications that would have on geopolitics. Altman said the future can be "almost unimaginably bright, but only if we take concrete steps to ensure that an American-led version of AI, built on democratic values like freedom and transparency, prevails over an authoritarian one." Lisa Su, CEO of chipmaker AMD, warned that "leadership is not guaranteed." For example, Su said chip export controls that affect AMD and its rivals may slow AI development in adversarial nations, but people will make do with what they have and still advance in AI. The President Joe Biden administration restricted advanced chip AI exports primarily to China to slow that nation's AI development. The President Donald Trump administration is revisiting those rules, delaying implementation, Reuters reported. Microsoft's Smith said exports must be regulated with the right controls because if allied countries cannot get American technology, they will get it elsewhere. The "No. 1 factor" in determining which country leads in AI is "whose technology is more broadly adopted by the rest of the world," Smith said. Su agreed. "If our international partners cannot access U.S. platforms, they will adopt alternatives that may be less advanced today but will mature over time," she said. Michael Intrator, CEO of cloud GPU provider CoreWeave, said poorly crafted restrictions could "inadvertently bolster foreign competitors." He called for rules that foster international cooperation rather than fragmenting the global AI market. "AI represents the next major evolution of technology with the potential to transform society," Intrator said. "This is America's AI moment, and a strategic opportunity America cannot afford to miss." See also: AI Regulations: OpenAI Calls on EU to Review, Simplify AI Rules Each executive stressed that massive computing power is the bedrock of AI progress -- and the U.S. must expand its data center capacity, power grid and chip supply. "AI computation is energy-intensive," Intrator said, citing U.S. Department of Energy forecasts that data centers could consume up to 12% of the nation's electricity by 2028. "Every month of delay represents lost ground in a field where the pace of innovation is measured in weeks, not years." Smith said Microsoft is investing over $80 billion this year in AI infrastructure, with more than half going to U.S. projects. "Just as you can't have reliable electricity in your home without a powerplant, you can't have AI without data centers and AI infrastructure," he said. All four executives said the talent gap could become a major chokepoint for U.S. competitiveness. Altman said OpenAI's models are already helping students and educators in states like Texas and North Carolina, with one-third of college-aged users in the U.S. relying on ChatGPT for tutoring and learning. "AI will be vitally important to ensuring that today's students are ready for tomorrow's jobs," he said. Smith called for a national goal to make AI literacy accessible to all Americans, especially through partnerships with K-12 schools, community colleges and trade programs. "Perhaps the single biggest challenge for data center expansion in the United States is a national shortage of people," Smith said. "Over the next decade, the U.S. will need to recruit and train half a million new electricians to meet the country's growing electricity needs."

Microsoft's Brad Smith, other tech execs give Congress AI wish list

By Alex Halverson, The Seattle Times The Tribune Content Agency Tech leaders representing four major players in artificial intelligence appeared before Congress on Thursday, urging looser regulation and heavier investment in energy to support the technology's growth. Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation probed Microsoft President Brad Smith, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others on ethical and energy concerns with widespread AI adoption. But the theme running through most of the hearing was whether the U.S. was winning the AI race, especially against China. "It is very hard to say how far ahead we are," Altman said. Smith said in his testimony that to win the race, the federal government needs to support the private sector at every level. That means improving and building out the infrastructure needed to scale up AI, namely massive data centers and a modernized electrical grid. "The country must recruit and train skilled labor like electricians and pipe fitters that are in short supply," Smith said. "We all must summon the best of our researchers at national labs and universities, supported by federal basic research programs and partnerships that have become the envy of the world." During the hearing, Smith said some of the tightest regulations for building out an AI infrastructure come from the federal level. One example is permitting for data centers. "The number one challenge in the United States when it comes to permitting is not local, it's not state, it is the federal wetlands permit administered by the Army Corps of Engineers," he said. "We can typically get our state and local permits done in six to nine months; the federal wetlands permit is taking often 18 to 24 months." If the Trump administration focused on that, Smith said, data center construction could accelerate. Microsoft, like other companies, has committed billions this year to build out its AI infrastructure. As of January, Microsoft was on track to pump $80 billion into AI-enabled data centers and other AI investments during its 2025 fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Outside of regulation, AI leaders don't want to be caught up in escalating trade wars. If the U.S. wants to be a global leader in AI, as Smith put it, then it has to be able to send its technology across the globe. "At the end of the day, the world wants to be able to build and deploy artificial intelligence in a very broad way," said Michael Intrator, CEO of CoreWeave, a cloud computing startup focused on high-performance systems. "If we do not step into that role, other technology will step in that role." Lisa Su, CEO of California-based hardware giant Advanced Micro Devices, said there's a "clear recognition" that the U.S. needs an export strategy for AI to make sure allies get chips and other technology without it being diverted to competing countries like China. Where the four tech leaders broke ranks is on the issue of standards in AI. Sen. Maria Cantwell, the Washington Democrat serving as ranking member of the committee, asked the quartet whether the U.S. needed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to support developing standards in AI. Su, Intrator and Smith all said yes. "I don't think we need it," Altman said. "It can be helpful." When asked to support their answers, Smith said AI will need industry standards. "We will need American adoption of standards," he said. "We will need U.S. efforts to really ensure that the world buys into these standards."

Microsoft to urge senators to speed permitting for AI, boost government data access

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Microsoft President Brad Smith on Thursday will urge U.S. lawmakers to streamline federal permitting for artificial intelligence energy needs and open more government data sets for AI training, according to written testimony seen by Reuters. "America's advanced economy relies on 50-year-old infrastructure that cannot meet the increasing electricity demands driven by AI, reshoring of manufacturing, and increased electrification," Smith's written testimony for the Senate Commerce Committee AI hearing says. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will tell the committee that "as AI systems become more capable, people will want to use them even more. Meeting that demand requires more chips, training data, energy, and supercomputers."

AI leaders to urge senators to speed power supply permitting, boost government data access

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Microsoft and other AI leaders on Thursday will urge U.S. lawmakers to streamline federal permitting for artificial intelligence energy needs and open more government data sets for AI training, according to written testimony reviewed by Reuters. "America's advanced economy relies on 50-year-old infrastructure that cannot meet the increasing electricity demands driven by AI, reshoring of manufacturing, and increased electrification," Microsoft President Brad Smith's written testimony says for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on "Winning the AI Race". OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will tell senators that as AI systems improve people will want to use them more, and meeting that demand will require more chips, training data, energy and supercomputers. "We want to build a brain for the world and make it super easy for people to use it, with common-sense restrictions to prevent harm," Altman's testimony says. CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator's written testimony highlights the energy-intensity of AI computation, citing an Energy Department estimate that data centers' consumption could rise to 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028 from 4.4% in 2023. "Millions of hours of training, billions of inference queries, trillions of model parameters, and continuous dynamic scaling are all driving an insatiable hunger for compute and energy that borders on exponential," he said. He called for efforts "to streamline the permitting process to enable the addition of new sources of generation and the transmission infrastructure to deliver it." AMD CEO Lisa Su will tell senators leading in AI requires "rapidly building data centers at scale and powering them with reliable, affordable, and clean energy sources." She added "moving faster also means moving AI beyond the cloud. To ensure every American benefits, AI must be built into the devices we use every day and made as accessible and dependable as electricity." Smith called for opening U.S. government data sets for AI training, citing actions by China and the United Kingdom. "The federal government remains one of the largest untapped sources of high-quality and high-volume data," Smith said. "By making government data readily available for AI training, the United States can significantly accelerate the advancement of AI capabilities." (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonali Paul)

US AI execs to give Congress policy wishlist for beating China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top executives at American AI giants OpenAI, Microsoft and AMD are set to appear at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday and outline ways they believe Washington can stay ahead of Beijing in the artificial intelligence race. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to U.S. artificial intelligence after China's DeepSeek shocked the world with a high-quality, affordable AI model last year. The U.S. tech industry has seized on that development to lobby the Trump administration for more favorable policies, arguing that promoting worldwide use of AI that reflects democratic values is a matter of national interest. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, maker of flagship AI model ChatGPT, is expected to testify, as are Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, and Lisa Su, CEO of AI chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Altman is expected to testify about societal advances he expects AI to bring about. "This future can be almost unimaginably bright, but only if we take concrete steps to ensure that an American-led version of AI, built on democratic values like freedom and transparency, prevails over an authoritarian one," Altman will say, according to prepared remarks seen by Reuters. The development of AI has depended on specialized computer chips, huge amounts of data to train large-language models, vast amounts of energy and a technically skilled workforce. Smith is expected to testify that to succeed, the U.S. will need to support companies at all layers of the AI ecosystem, and partner with allies around the world, according to his prepared remarks. Deepseek, a Hangzhou-based upstart, stunned the world last year when it unveiled a powerful AI model competitive with the likes of OpenAI and Meta Platforms, but cheaper to run. The move was surprising against the backdrop of sweeping rules imposed by President Joe Biden's administration, aimed at cutting off China from American AI chips and capabilities, over fears Beijing could use the powerful technology to supercharge its military. The Trump administration has so far taken a similar approach, last month imposing new licensing requirements on shipments to China of AI chips made by Nvidia and AMD that the companies designed to get around prior export restrictions. But the limitations have spurred criticism from industry participants and some lawmakers who say the rules hamstring U.S. companies and hand the lucrative Chinese AI market to companies like Huawei, which has designed a competitive AI chip known as Ascend. "The way to beat China in the AI race is to outrace them in innovation, not saddle AI developers with European-style regulations," Cruz said in a statement announcing the hearing. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

AI execs say US must increase exports, improve infrastructure to beat China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top executives at American AI giants OpenAI, Microsoft and Advanced Micro Devices said at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday that while the U.S. is ahead in the artificial-intelligence race, Washington needs to boost infrastructure and champion AI chip exports to stay ahead of Beijing. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to U.S. artificial intelligence after China's DeepSeek shocked the world with a high-quality, affordable AI model last year and as Huawei, long in Washington's crosshairs, unveiled an advanced AI chip. The U.S. tech industry has seized on those concerns to lobby the Trump administration for more favorable policies including loosened export restrictions on AI chips, arguing that promoting worldwide use of AI that reflects democratic values is a matter of national interest. "The number-one factor that will define whether the U.S. or China wins this race is whose technology is most broadly adopted in the rest of the world," said Microsoft President Brad Smith, adding that concerns about Chinese propaganda and personal data flows to China had driven his own company to bar employees from using DeepSeek. "The lesson from Huawei and 5G is that whoever gets there first will be difficult to supplant," he said. The Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, which also makes an advanced AI chip, has faced U.S. restrictions over concerns its equipment could be used to spy on users. Reuters reported last month that Huawei is ramping up to make mass shipments of advanced AI chips to Chinese customers. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, maker of flagship AI model ChatGPT, is testifying, as are Microsoft's Smith and Lisa Su, CEO of AI chipmaker AMD. Microsoft is a major backer of OpenAI. Altman told the panel he expects societal advances from AI to accelerate in the next few years through U.S. investment. "Investment in infrastructure is critical," Altman said during the hearing. The U.S. "will be not only the place where the AI revolution happens but all the revolutions after," he said. Such infrastructure includes everything from data centers to house more servers to power stations that fuel the energy-intensive calculations needed to drive AI. The development of AI has depended on specialized computer chips, huge amounts of data to train large-language models, vast amounts of energy and a technically skilled workforce. Smith called for more education on AI to speed up adoption and investment in electrical infrastructure and AI research in development. DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based upstart, stunned the world last year when it unveiled a powerful AI model competitive with the likes of OpenAI and Meta Platforms, but cheaper to run. The move was surprising against the backdrop of sweeping rules imposed by President Joe Biden's administration, aimed at cutting off China from American AI chips and capabilities, over fears Beijing could use the powerful technology to supercharge its military. The Trump administration has so far taken a similar approach, last month imposing new licensing requirements on shipments to China of AI chips made by Nvidia and AMD that the companies designed to get around prior export restrictions. But the limitations have spurred criticism from industry participants and some lawmakers who say the rules hamstring U.S. companies and hand the lucrative Chinese AI market to companies like Huawei. "The way to beat China in the AI race is to out-race them in innovation, not saddle AI developers with European-style regulations," Cruz said in a statement announcing the hearing. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by David Gregorio, Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)