“If We Fail, Others Will Continue”: Sam Altman on OpenAI’s Risk-Driven AI Expansion

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman unequivocally stated on Thursday that the company neither has nor seeks government guarantees for its ambitious multi-trillion-dollar data centre expansion, pushing back against speculation triggered by recent comments from his CFO. In a detailed post on X, Altman emphasised that taxpayers should not bear the risk of private companies' failures, declaring, "If we screw up and can't fix it, we should fail, and other companies will continue on doing good work and servicing customers." The clarification came hours after White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks explicitly ruled out any federal bailout for the AI sector, amid Wall Street's growing concerns over a potential bubble in artificial intelligence investments.

The controversy erupted when OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, speaking at a Wall Street Journal event, expressed hope for a government "backstop" to facilitate cheaper financing for perpetual upgrades to cutting-edge chips. Friar quickly walked back the remarks on LinkedIn, but not before igniting criticism that OpenAI was angling for taxpayer-funded protection on its infrastructure commitments—estimated at around $1.4 trillion over the next eight years. Altman distinguished this from separate discussions about federal loan guarantees to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing, noting OpenAI had engaged on that front without formal applications.

Sacks, responding directly to the uproar, posted, X: "There will be no federal bailout for AI. The U.S. has at least 5 major frontier model companies. If one fails, others will take its place." He advocated instead for policy reforms like streamlined permitting and expanded power generation to accelerate private-sector buildouts without raising residential electricity rates. Altman echoed the market-driven sentiment, projecting OpenAI's annualised revenue to exceed $20 billion by year-end and scale to hundreds of billions by 2030 through enterprise tools, consumer devices, and breakthroughs in scientific discovery.

Also Read: Elon Musk Calls OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a “Thief,” Reigniting Billionaire Feud

The rapid-fire exchanges underscore heightened scrutiny on AI's capital-intensive future, as companies race to secure chips from suppliers like Nvidia and AMD amid fears that returns may not justify the historic spending spree. With OpenAI at the forefront of the boom—having signed numerous multibillion-dollar data centre deals in 2025 alone—Altman's reassurance aims to restore investor confidence in self-funded growth. As global competition intensifies, the episode highlights a clear administration line: innovation thrives on competition, not cushions, setting the tone for America's AI strategy in the years ahead.

Also Read: Elon Musk Calls OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a “Thief,” Reigniting Billionaire Feud