{"id":98225,"date":"2026-07-07T21:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/98225\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T21:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:23:15","slug":"kemp-holds-meeting-with-openai-and-georgia-power-in-atlanta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/98225\/","title":{"rendered":"Kemp holds meeting with OpenAI and Georgia Power in Atlanta"},"content":{"rendered":"

In May, as Georgians rallied at the polls and community meetings against power- and water-guzzling data centers, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp met with representatives of OpenAI about the AI industry-leading company\u2019s business plans for the state.<\/p>\n

While the meeting became public as part of Kemp\u2019s schedule, neither the governor\u2019s office, nor OpenAI or Georgia Power, whose representatives were also present, would elaborate on the topics discussed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of the meeting is to brief the governor on OpenAI\u2019s activity in the state of Georgia. They will provide an overview of why Georgia and any specific sites are of interest, jobs and investment commitments, and OpenAI\u2019s current strategy and timeline,\u201d according to the one-page briefing memo prepared<\/a> for May 20 by Kemp\u2019s scheduling director. The Current GA obtained the document through an open records request.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also unclear who called the meeting, let alone what business strategy OpenAI might be pursuing or contemplating in Georgia.<\/p>\n

Records of Georgia\u2019s state AI Advisory Council<\/a> show that state staff are using ChatGPT to the tune of thousands of chats.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Georgia opened a state Office of Artificial Intelligence<\/a>, meant to bring together state agencies, companies and elected officials to \u201cfoster experimentation and development in AI and other emerging technologies.\u201d Among its resources are 500 ChatGPT enterprise licenses<\/a> for state employee use.<\/p>\n

Beyond that AI product, OpenAI has been developing classified chatbot technology, which it recently sold to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

The company also leads an national AI data center project announced by President Donald Trump<\/a> a day after his 2025 inauguration. Partnered with the software company Oracle and money from Japan\u2019s SoftBank Group, the \u201cStargate\u201d plan would see the three companies build $500 billion in data centers across the country.<\/p>\n

Stargate has announced sites for data centers in Wisconsin, Texas and Minnesota. Despite local pushback<\/a> in Saline Township, Mich., plans are moving forward there as well.<\/p>\n

At the governor\u2019s meeting in Atlanta, the listed OpenAI attendees included senior leaders in site readiness and development, economic development and power projects.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether OpenAI is an investor in any existing data center in Georgia.<\/p>\n

Georgia\u2019s data center boom centers around metro Atlanta, and some are owned by shell corporations that makes it impossible to know whose computing goes on inside. No data centers are known to exist on the coast, but a request to rezone<\/a> for one in Kingsland drew enough ire that the applicant withdrew the idea.<\/p>\n

Kemp\u2019s one-page briefing memo was the sole document provided by the governor\u2019s office in response to an open record request for any documents prepared by his office before or after the meeting; or for any documents received from OpenAI. The meeting first came to light in The Current GA\u2019s regular review of Kemp\u2019s meeting calendar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Kemp says he cannot comment on the governor\u2019s \u201cprivate conversations and meetings,\u201d but noted that Kemp meets frequently with business executives to remain informed about developments in their industries.<\/p>\n

As for Georgia Power\u2019s role in the meeting, the utility provider said it \u201ccan\u2019t discuss specific projects or potential customer agreements\u201d and that its role is to ensure that businesses have access to \u201creliable and affordable electricity\u201d when they locate or expand in the state.<\/p>\n

An OpenAI spokesperson said via e-mail that they do not comment on or confirm private meetings. Instead of answers about their presentation to Kemp or Project Stargate in particular, they sent links to promotional material about those data center plans.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on The Current<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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