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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is pressing OpenAI for assurances that it won’t seek a government bailout if it doesn’t turn a profit. In a letter to CEO Sam Altman, Warren said she was concerned that the company was preparing to retreat “from the classic strategy of privatizing profits and distributing losses to society” amid rising spending and growing fears that the AI bubble will burst.
Warren wrote that she was concerned that OpenAI “has committed to spending more than $1 trillion even though it has not yet turned a profit” and “appears to be seeking government assistance if it proves unable to pay its bills.” The senator, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, says the company’s “increasingly tangled web of speculation, debt-based industrial partnerships, and circular spending arrangements” creates risks for the entire U.S. economy, which could leave the government little choice but to intervene if the AI industry falters. Warren points out CoreWeave For example, noting that the company is heavily indebted to fulfill its contract with OpenAI, which has “relatively little debt on its balance sheet.”
OpenAI has repeatedly rejected the idea that it pursues or has government guarantees. The company has been in a near-constant state of public relations crisis over the matter since last November, when CFO Sarah Friar Suggested Taxpayers must “subsidize” the company’s massive investments in infrastructure. Monk He came back quickly Her statements and Altman stressed That OpenAI “does not have or want government guarantees for OpenAI data centers (sic).” However, Warren wrote, these “statements do not appear to deny federal loans and guarantees to the AI industry as a whole.” Even without a targeted bailout, Warren says OpenAI would benefit greatly from this industry-wide support “given the size of its financial liabilities and the mismatch between its spending and revenue.”
The Trump administration also rejected the idea of government bailouts of AI companies as they flow Billions and Billions of dollars in projects like Stargate to expand the reach of artificial intelligence There is no clear path to profitability. Shortly after Friar’s supportive comments, David Sachs, a White House AI expert and cryptocurrency czar, tweeted: “There will be no federal bailout for AI.” Meanwhile, technology companies are working hard to ingratiate themselves with President Trump and the federal government. Companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta All were donated to the Trump Ballroom Project. CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Altman, and Tim Cook have done this They made pilgrimages to show loyalty In the capital or Mar-a-Lago; He was the co-founder and president of OpenAI, Greg Brockman, and his wife, Anna They were recently revealed to be major donors to Trump. Warren, along with other lawmakers, has suggested some contributions They can be considered bribes.
Warren books Sachs in November asked the administration to confirm that it would not use taxpayer money to “subsidize” major AI companies. “He has not responded yet,” she said in her letter to Altman.
Warren asks Altman to provide details about the conversations OpenAI has had with the US government about loan guarantees and to confirm what kind of federal support for the industry the company would prefer. Warren also seeks details on the specific infrastructure for which OpenAI is seeking tax credits and information on the company’s projected annual finances through 2032, particularly what will happen if AI models fail to deliver on demand for AI tools. It also requests information on whether the company is making a profit from any of its ChatGPT plans currently or expects to do so within the next three years.
Warren gave Altman until February 13, 2026 to respond.