NSW government ‘absolutely thrilled’ to welcome OpenAI ... until someone mentioned the Terminator films
Summary
The NSW government welcomed OpenAI’s decision to open its first Australian office in Sydney but removed an enthusiastic phrase from its announcement after staff joked about a fictional AI threat from the Terminator films. The government is promoting Sydney as a key tech hub and working on strategies to support the growing AI sector while addressing environmental concerns about data centers.Key Facts
- OpenAI announced its first Australian office in Sydney, opening in December last year.
- NSW government initially said it was "absolutely thrilled" about OpenAI's office but later softened the language after staff joked about a fictional dangerous AI called Skynet.
- Sydney is promoted as a leading startup location in the southern hemisphere, attracting 65% of venture capital in Australia.
- Sydney hosts major tech companies like Atlassian, Canva, and Afterpay, and many AI businesses (45% of all in Australia).
- Big US tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and IBM also have Australian headquarters in Sydney.
- NSW is developing a strategy for data center growth to support AI but has not announced a release date.
- There are concerns about environmental impacts from data centers, especially air pollution during power outages when diesel generators run.
- The worst-case environmental model predicts data centers could cause pollution five to six times greater than all electricity generation or motor vehicles in NSW during simultaneous generator use.
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