Why Did OpenAI Pay for School Lunches?

Sarah Friar says OpenAI paid for free school lunches because a Georgia community asked for them out of an $80 million grant.

Reid Hoffman asked where she was going next. She was on her way to Savannah, Georgia, to meet the community around a new site that will become a large data center. She says data centers can be a contentious conversation locally, and they can also bring skilled jobs. In Abilene, Texas, she says the work brings electricians and HVAC jobs, and many unions are excited about what is coming. In Georgia, OpenAI gave the community an $80 million grant to deploy over five years, and the community chooses the use. The first request that came to her was free school dinners or free school lunches, at about $4.5 million. She said yes. Uptake of the free lunch has since gone up 50%. She says trust is earned by showing up, listening, and asking, rather than telling a community what it needs.

Friar says AI is probably adding about a point to GDP, depending on how it is measured, and she wants the growth in the United States and back in her homeland.