OpenAI’s Sam Altman thanks Sen John Fetterman for ‘normalizing hoodies’

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was one of the final senators to question OpenAI chief Sam Altman during Thursday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing, and the subject of both Three Mile Island and the Democrat’s penchant for Carhartt outerwear came up.

Fetterman said that as a senator he has been able to meet people with “much more impressive jobs and careers” and that due to Altman’s technology, “humans will have a wonderful ability to adapt.”

He told Altman that some Americans are worried about AI on various levels, and he asked the executive to address it.

In response, Altman said he appreciated Fetterman’s praise.

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“Thank you, Senator, for the kind words and for normalizing hoodies in more spaces,” he said.

“I love to see that. I am incredibly excited about the rate of progress, but I also am cautious,” Altman said about the Democrat’s particular question.

“I think this is beyond something that we all fully yet understand where it’s going to go. This is, I believe, among the biggest … technological revolutions humanity will have ever produced. And I feel privileged to be here.”

Fetterman also questioned Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith on concerns over the proliferation of data centers making utility costs for Pennsylvanians and Americans go up.

“For me, energy security is national security,” he said, citing the use of renewable energy and fossil fuels. 

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“My focus is also that I want to make sure that ratepayers in Pennsylvania really hit too hard for throughout all of this,” he said, as many mid-Atlantic states are seeing an increase in land purchases for data centers that new tech like AI requires.

While the construction of such centers does create jobs, he said, those roles are often temporary.

He went on to note how Microsoft is seeking to revive a reactor on Three Mile Island in Dauphin County, which infamously melted down decades ago, and carbon-neutral means to power data centers and more.

“I’ve been tracking the plan to reopen TMI (Three Mile Island). My own personal story is I had to grab my hamster and evacuate during the meltdown in 1979,” he said.

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“You might assume that I was anti-nuclear, and I actually am very supportive of nuclear because that’s an important part of the stack if you really want to address climate change.”

“But I know that’s to power Microsoft’s data center. And I really appreciate that, but if I’m saying now, if we’re able to commit that, the power purchase agreement, it’s not going to raise electricity for Pennsylvania families.”

Smith replied that in data center construction, Microsoft plans to invest in the power grid an equivalent amount to the electricity it will use so that it is not tapping into constricted supply.

“No. 2, we’ll manage all of this in a way that ensures that our activity does not raise the price of electricity to the community,” he said.