Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pressuring OpenAI to provide assurances that it will not seek a government bailout if it does not make a profit. In a letter to CEO Sam Altman, Warren said he was concerned that the company was preparing to return to “the classic strategy of privatizing profits and socializing losses” amid rising spending and growing fears of the AI bubble bursting.
Warren writes that she is concerned that OpenAI “has committed to spending more than a trillion dollars despite not yet turning a profit” and “appears to be asking for government bailouts if it proves unable to pay its bills.” The senator, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, says the company’s “increasingly entangled web of speculative, debt-based industry partnerships and circular spending arrangements” poses a risk to the entire US economy, leaving the government no choice but to step in if the AI industry falters. Warren points to CoreWeave as an example, noting that the company is deeply in debt to meet its contract with OpenAI, which has “comparatively very little debt on its balance sheet.”
OpenAI has repeatedly rejected the idea that it is seeking or that it has government guarantee. The company has been in a constant PR crisis over the matter since last November, when CFO Sarah Fryer suggested Taxpayers must “backstop” the company’s massive infrastructure investments. ascetic went back quickly his comments and Altman insisted That OpenAI “does not have or want a government guarantee for the OpenAI datacenter (sic).” However, Warren writes that these “statements do not reject federal loans and guarantees for the AI industry as a whole.” Even without a targeted bailout, Warren says OpenAI would benefit significantly from such industry-wide support “given the scale of its financial commitments and the mismatch between its spending and revenues.”
The Trump administration has also rejected the idea of a government bailout for AI companies as they have invested billions of dollars in projects like Stargate to enhance AI with no clear path to profitability. Shortly after Fryer’s backstop comments, White House AI and crypto czar David Sachs tweeted that “There will be no federal bailout of AI here.” Concurrently, tech companies are working hard to align themselves with President Trump and the federal government. Companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta donated to Trump’s ballroom project; Executives like Mark Zuckerberg, Altman and Tim Cook have made pilgrimages to DC or Mar-a-Lago to show allegiance; And OpenAI’s co-founder and chairman, Greg Brockman, and his wife Anna were recently revealed as Trump mega-donors. Warren has joined other lawmakers in suggesting that some contributions could be considered bribes.
Warren wrote to Sachs in November asking the administration to confirm that it would not use taxpayer money to “promote” major AI companies. In her letter to Altman, she says, “She has not yet received a reply.”
Warren Altman to provide details of OpenAI’s negotiations with the US government regarding loan guarantees and to confirm what type of federal support the company supports for the industry. Warren is also asking for details about the specific infrastructure that OpenAI is seeking tax credits for and information about the company’s projected annual finances through 2032, specifically what would happen if AI models plateau and demand for AI tools is not met. It also asks for information on whether the company is making a profit on any of its ChatGPT plans now or expects to do so within the next three years.
Warren has given Altman until February 13, 2026 to respond.
