OpenAI plans to push for "speed limits" on the most powerful AI after the midterms, and wants its data centers called "compute campuses."

OpenAI is planning a policy push that starts in the lame-duck session of Congress, which opens Nov 9, right after Tuesday's midterm elections, according to an Axios scoop published Sunday morning. Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, told Axios the company will talk "more and more about the concept of speed limits," meaning required safeguards for the most powerful AI systems, because "people should always remain in control of this technology." The plan has three other parts: giving communities a say in how data centers near them are built and how they benefit, including state legislation OpenAI is proposing; helping workers through job disruption with education, training and support for starting businesses; and working with other countries on global standards based on democratic values. As part of the data center push, OpenAI wants to start calling them "AI compute campuses." An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the new name to Business Insider, saying it "better describes the scale and role of the infrastructure we're building for AI," and that OpenAI wants host communities "to help shape it and share in the opportunities it creates." The push comes as many communities push back against new data centers, and TechCrunch notes that Amazon and Microsoft have said they'll stop using nondisclosure agreements with local governments. Lehane told Axios that "AI is going to be the issue in 2028," calling these midterms "a bit of a movie trailer."

What to watch: whether "speed limits" turns into actual bill text in the lame-duck session, which runs until the new Congress starts in January, and which systems would count as "most powerful." So far, OpenAI hasn't published details.