Warren Presses OpenAI CEO on Spending Commitments and Bailout Requests After CFO Suggests Government “Backstop”
“American taxpayers deserve answers to ensure that they do not end up on the hook for OpenAI’s bills while executives and shareholders reap the profits.”
“OpenAI appears to be privatizing profits while seeking ways to let the public defray the costs of any potential failures of its business strategy.”
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter requesting specific details from OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, regarding its spending commitments and the circumstances under which OpenAI would seek a taxpayer bailout to help meet these commitments. There is a gap between OpenAI’s spending commitments and revenues, which has spurred public discussion of an “AI bubble,” and the company recently made overt requests for federal government support to “backstop” its financial commitments.
Recent reporting indicates that OpenAI is “losing money at a faster pace than almost any other startup in Silicon Valley history.” In the first half of 2025, OpenAI reported losses of $13.5 billion, and estimates suggest additional losses of $11.5 billion in the third quarter of 2025. As part of OpenAI’s strategy of scaling its computing capacity, the company has committed to spending nearly $1.4 trillion over the next eight years through a series of complex and often circular partnerships with various players within the AI industry, including Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and CoreWeave.
“Given these financing strategies and potential broader risks to the economy, I am concerned that your company is now laying the groundwork for government guarantees for the trillion-dollar AI industry, falling back on the classic strategy of privatizing profits and socializing losses,” wrote the senator.
At the same time as OpenAI claims financial stability, the company has made repeated requests for taxpayer support. In March 2025, OpenAI sent a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) advocating for “[t]ax credits, loans, and other vehicles the US government can direct” for companies “building AI infrastructure.” In October, the company also sent a public comment letter to OSTP Director Michael Kratsios requesting that OSTP and Congress extend a tax credit meant for semiconductors to the broader AI supply chain, and in November the Chief Financial Officer echoed these requests in a public interview, suggesting the federal government provide “the backstop, the guarantee that allows [data center chip] financing to happen.”
Even as OpenAI is publicly requesting taxpayer support, the company is reportedly “paying employees more than any tech startup in recent history,” with an average stock compensation of $1.5 million per employee.
“Tax credits and loan guarantees are important tools that the federal government should deploy to support critical industries, strengthen supply chains, and create well-paying American jobs,” wrote the senator. “But these tools should not be deployed in a way that asks taxpayers to shoulder the risks while enriching company executives and investors.”
“OpenAI appears to be privatizing profits while seeking ways to let the public defray the costs of any potential failures of its business strategy,” continued the senator.
In November 2025, Senator Warren, the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to David Sacks, White House Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, and Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, requesting information about any Trump Administration plans to use taxpayer dollars to prop up OpenAI and other AI companies at the expense of working-class Americans. Senator Warren noted the Trump Administration’s close ties with AI executives and donors raised concerns that the Administration could bail out AI executives and shareholders while leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. The White House failed to respond to that letter.
In her new letter to OpenAI, Senator Warren requested additional information regarding OpenAI’s business model, its plans to fulfill its spending commitments, and its appeal to the White House for taxpayer support by February 13, 2026.
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