"I think that usually these things just tend to blow over in a few days, and I'm sure that OpenAI is counting on that. At the same time, though, Kevin, I think back to the lesson that Meta learned, which is that as it had its own series of controversies, by and large, people did not quit Facebook. They did not quit Instagram. But you know what they did do? Just kind of start to hate Meta as a company and develop really low trust in that company."
"And the particular way, by the way, that I think this is going to hurt OpenAI is they're gearing up to go out and build a lot of data centers around this country, and there's already enormous backlash that we are seeing. Right? We're starting to see it creep into our politics. And so if they are not able to sort of reverse the narrative and convince people that A.I. is going to have, like, hugely positive outcomes in their lives, I think you're going to see the data center opposition ramp up as a proxy for people's just kind of distrust of that company in general."
OpenAI secured a Pentagon contract that rival AI company Anthropic lost due to disagreements over AI safety protocols. This decision has generated significant consumer anger and calls for boycotts. However, skepticism exists about whether public outcry will meaningfully impact OpenAI's business, as similar protests against major tech companies historically dissipate quickly without substantial consequences. The backlash may not directly reduce subscriptions, but it could damage OpenAI's reputation and public trust. This reputational harm may manifest indirectly through opposition to OpenAI's planned data center expansion projects, as communities and politicians increasingly scrutinize the company's intentions and AI safety commitments.
#openai-pentagon-contract #ai-safety-concerns #consumer-backlash #data-center-expansion #corporate-reputation
Read at www.nytimes.com
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