OpenAI’s Chris Lehane Calls for an AI New Deal Ahead of 2028 Election as Critics Question Accountability
By James Dargan · · 2 min read
OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane has argued in a new essay that the 2028 presidential election could be a defining moment for AI, urging politicians to develop policies addressing Americans’ concerns about the technology rather than simply echoing anti-AI sentiment and opposition to data centers.
Lehane compares AI’s potential to reshape the economy with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, noting that Americans today share a similar anxiety about losing control over their economic futures. He calls for a third path that lets people share in AI’s benefits and sets out five policy priorities covering worker protections, education, AI safety and data center development.
His proposals include tax incentives for workers to learn AI skills, easier capital access for entrepreneurs and new models of employee ownership and profit-sharing. He also backs enforceable safety standards, independent evaluations, public oversight and the ability to shut down AI systems, alongside age-appropriate protections around AI companions for minors. Lehane warns that keeping AI out of classrooms could deepen inequality, and that politicians backing a data center moratorium risk America’s lead over China.
The essay follows a Democratic midterm victory driven by cost-of-living frustrations, with data center opposition emerging as a bipartisan concern in several races.
Kate Brennan, who leads AI and corporate power policy at the AI Now Institute, told TechCrunch the rhetoric marks a notable shift from OpenAI’s earlier focus on accelerating development and reducing regulation. She described the New Deal comparison as ahistorical at best, arguing that the proposals assume mass AI adoption benefits society, and suggested measures such as a revised corporate tax rate or incentives for hiring humans instead. Brennan also called the safety stances disingenuous given OpenAI’s opposition to California’s SB 1047 in 2024, although the company has since backed several state safety laws.
