OpenAI is already trying to shape the 2028 election

OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane published an essay arguing the 2028 presidential election could serve as a defining moment for artificial intelligence, urging politicians to craft policy addressing Americans' anxieties about the technology rather than echoing anti-AI sentiment and backlash against data centers.

Lehane draws a parallel between AI's economic potential and Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the 1930s federal programs enacted after industrialization and the Great Depression upended the economic order. He writes that Americans today feel a similar loss of control over their economic futures and calls on leaders to find a "compacting third path" — a "compelling third path" — letting people share in AI's benefits. The essay outlines five policy priorities covering worker protections, education, AI safety, and data center development.

The timing follows a midterm election in which Democrats flipped control of Congress amid voter frustration over cost of living. Kate Brennan, who leads AI and corporate power policy at the AI Now Institute, told TechCrunch the rhetoric marks a shift from OpenAI's prior agenda, which centered on speeding up AI development, loosening regulatory barriers, and expanding infrastructure. Opposition to data centers surfaced as a bipartisan issue in several midterm races, even as AI itself was not a dominant campaign topic.

Many of Lehane's ideas would widen AI adoption and underpin the infrastructure growth companies like OpenAI depend on, Brennan noted, while the original New Deal constrained corporate power and protected workers. On the tax code, Lehane proposes incentives for workers to learn AI skills, easier capital access for entrepreneurs, and new approaches to employee ownership and profit-sharing — voluntary measures rather than binding requirements that would guarantee workers share in AI-generated wealth or that companies absorb the costs of displacing labor. Brennan said the plan assumes mass AI adoption and societal benefit that have not yet materialized, and suggested alternatives like a revised corporate tax rate, incentives for hiring humans over automating jobs, and limits on outsized market power.

On data centers, Lehane acknowledges concerns but highlights construction jobs and local tax revenue, warning that politicians backing a moratorium could jeopardize America's lead over China — a comparison he extends to the 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war. Whether AI becomes a central 2028 issue remains open: affordability is already shaping up as a key theme as voters weigh inflation, tariffs, and rising living costs, alongside worries about electricity bills, job displacement, and gains concentrating among a handful of wealthy firms. It is unclear whether policymakers will adopt Lehane's frame or push binding accountability measures he largely leaves out.