George Osborne says datacentre nimbys holding back Britain

George Osborne, the former UK chancellor now serving as head of AI for countries at OpenAI, said datacentre nimbys are holding Britain back and that the UK needs datacentres to maintain "sovereignty" over AI technology. Osborne's comments came in reaction to nationwide protests against the large water- and energy-consuming facilities, and he holds a role at OpenAI in enabling the building of datacentres and other infrastructure.

George Osborne says datacentre nimbys holding back Britain By Helena HortonSource: The Guardian Technology https://www.theguardian.com/us/technology Former chancellor, now senior figure at OpenAI https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/openai , says UK needs datacentres to maintain ‘sovereignty’ over AI tech Datacentre nimbys are holding Britain back, George Osborne has said in reaction to nationwide protests about the giant water-and-energy guzzling structures. The Tory former chancellor is now the head of AI for countries at OpenAI, an artificial intelligence https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence company and the developer of ChatGPT https://www.machinebrief.com/compare/chatgpt-vs-claude . His job is to represent the company to governments around the world, and he also has a role in enabling the building of datacentres and other infrastructure. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/22/george-osborne-ai-datacentre-nimbys-holding-back-britain Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI.