Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Altman made the statements in an attempt to quell fears that OpenAI’s spending plans could shift enormous risks from Silicon Valley investors to US taxpayers. The creator of ChatGPT had to explain a statement by OpenAI’s chief financial officer at a Wall Street Journal event to the effect that the government could provide “the backing, the guarantee that allows for funding,” along with an ecosystem of banks and private capital. [2]
According to the Financial Times, OpenAI has committed to investing $1.4 trillion over the next eight years through a series of agreements, many of which include circular financial conditions that link the startup’s fortunes to large publicly traded technology companies such as Nvidia, AMD, and Oracle. In addition, the company is preparing to take on tens of billions of dollars in debt, according to its executives.

Sam Altman’s attempts to calm the situation come after an expression of serious concern by the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat from Massachusetts), the highest-ranking member of the Committee, sent a letter to David Sacks, Special Advisor to the White House for AI and Crypto, and Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, last November requesting information about the Trump administration’s possible plans to use taxpayer money to support OpenAI and other AI companies at the expense of the American working class. [3]

The Trump Administration’s close ties with AI executives and donors—including millions of dollars of contributions to President Trump’s new ballroom project—raise concerns that the Administration will bail out AI executives and shareholders while leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.

“We have seen this before: take on enough debt, make enough risky bets, and then demand a taxpayer bailout when those bets go south so the economy does not crash,” Warren warned. “OpenAI has been publicly pushing the federal government to ‘lean in’ and assist the industry by ‘de-risking’ AI expansion, including by expanding federal tax incentives and loan guarantees Guarantees Acts that provide a creditor with security in complement to the debtor’s commitment. A distinction is made between real guarantees (lien, pledge, mortgage, prior charge) and personal guarantees (surety, aval, letter of intent, independent guarantee). for AI companies,” wrote the senator, who added that “The Trump administration’s close ties to AI executives and donors—including millions of dollars of contributions to President Trump’s new ballroom project—raise concerns that the government will bail out AI executives and shareholders, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.” ...

“OpenAI’s attempts to obtain tax credits and loan guarantees are highly concerning, given that OpenAI recently reported one of the biggest quarterly losses for a tech company in history[...] OpenAI is also pursuing risky investments backed by tens of billions of dollars of debt and increasingly complex financing deals,” the legislator asserted, concluding that “OpenAI’s actions suggest that it may be pursuing a deliberate strategy to entangle itself with the federal government and the broader economy so the government has no choice but to step in with public funds.”

Concerns about the impact of AI data centres on the energy market

Another concern raised by AI is the impact that data centres have on energy market supplies and prices. Criticism is mounting over the White House’s plan for the federal government to take control of part of the country’s electricity grid to serve artificial intelligence. These concerns stem from the instructions recently given by Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which controls wholesale electricity supply in the US, to amend the rules and give it oversight of the connection of large data centres to the electricity grid. This process is usually overseen by the individual states. [4]

The situation is worrying enough that the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee has expressed concern on that aspect as well. Specifically, Senator Warren, Bernie Sanders (Democrat from Vermont) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat from Connecticut) have sent letters to Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, and Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, expressing their concern about the effects that their acquisitions of publicly traded utility companies could have on electricity prices for American families. [5]

Since President Trump took office [...], household electricity costs are already up 11%.

The senators told executives that “Acc ording to the International Energy Agency, data center electricity demand worldwide will increase by 130% by 2030. Bloomberg recently found that electricity now costs up to 267% more each month than it did in 2020 in areas located near large data centers. Since President Trump took office ten months ago, household electricity costs are already up 11%.”

The lawmakers pointed out that “amidst rapidly rising energy use from AI data centers and other strains on the grid, Wall Street investors and private equity Equity The capital put into an enterprise by the shareholders. Not to be confused with ’hard capital’ or ’unsecured debt’. firms appear to be taking advantage of utilities’ regulated-monopoly status to rake in excess profits.” Specifically, they highlighted the communities’ concern over Blackstone’s announcement that it would acquire TXNM Energy, a publicly traded company that supplies electricity to some 800,000 homes in New Mexico and Texas: “As community organizers have already noted, ‘private equity Private equity Private equity or investment capital designates a specific form of institutional investment in private companies with the goal of financing their development, transformation and expansion. The most common forms of private equity are venture capital, which refers to investments in the creation and development of innovative start-ups, and Leveraged Buy-Outs. ’s control of the state’s power grid threatens affordability, accountability, and the state’s transition to a clean energy future.’ Additionally, the Center for Biological Diversity, a national conservation organization, noted in their opposition to the acquisition that Blackstone’s FERC application fails to discuss the anti-competitive effects on customers as a result of the company owning both data centers and electric utility companies.”

The senators also cited former Republican chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Mark Christie, who warned that “a public utility has public service obligations; it is not just another company seeking to maximize returns to its shareholders. Many have been granted monopoly franchises by state governments in return for serving the public within their territories. One threat is that asset Asset Something belonging to an individual or a business that has value or the power to earn money (FT). The opposite of assets are liabilities, that is the part of the balance sheet reflecting a company’s resources (the capital contributed by the partners, provisions for contingencies and charges, as well as the outstanding debts). managers, like BlackRock, will use their ownership of competing assets to exert market power in wholesale energy, capacity, and ancillary services markets.” The legislators requested a prompt response to their questions regarding the companies’ acquisition of publicly traded utility companies.

Last November, we pointed out that the AI bubble is inflating with debt and setting off alarms about a possible burst that could destabilise the financial system. [6] And the trend continues. According to data from Dealogic, global technology companies issued £428.3 billion in bonds in 2025 through the first week of December. US companies accounted for £341.8 billion, while European and Asian technology companies issued £49.1 billion and £33 billion, respectively. [7]

Private debt is reaching such levels that it is beginning to obsess the financial world, especially the technology and AI sectors, as CADTM recently reported via Martine Orange in Mediapart: “The volume of Credit Default Swaps CDS
Credit Default Swaps Credit Default Swaps are an insurance that a financial company may purchase to protect itself against non payments. (CDS)  [8]
corresponding to a handful of groups associated with the digital world – OpenAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon – has increased by more than 9% since September, according to the clearing house Depositary Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) [9], reflecting growing investor unease about this sector and the urgent need to cover their backs,” Orange reported. [10]

A public bailout on the scale of the AI bubble would have a major impact on US public debt, which is already sky-high. And with Trump’s other measures—including the Big Beautiful (tax) Bill—, it’s at risk of skyrocketing beyond Earth orbit. [11]

Translated by Snake Arbusto and Mike Krolikowski.