In December, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, donated $1 million to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inaugural fund, joining a number of other tech executives who are working to improve their relationships with Mr. Trump.
Now, he and his company are laying out their vision for the development of artificial intelligence in the United States, hoping to shape how the next presidential administration handles this increasingly important technology.
On Monday, OpenAI released what it calls its economic blueprint for “A.I. in America,” suggesting ways that policymakers can spur development of A.I in the United States, minimize the risks posed by the technology and maintain a lead over China.
“We believe America needs to act now to maximize A.I.’s possibilities while minimizing its harms,” Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s head of global policy, wrote in the 15-page document. “We want to work with policymakers to ensure that A.I.’s benefits are shared responsibly and equitably.”
OpenAI launched the A.I. boom in late 2022 with the release of the online chatbot ChatGPT. The company continues to lead the field but faces countless competitors. One of its biggest rivals, xAI, is led by Elon Musk, who has developed a close relationship with Mr. Trump.
Many A.I. companies and independent experts believe that technologies like ChatGPT can increase economic growth by accelerating work and research in areas as far-flung as computer programming, medicine, education and finance. But continued development of these technologies requires enormous amounts of raw computing power and electricity.
OpenAI and its rivals are racing to expand the pool of giant computer data centers needed to build and operate their A.I. systems, which will require hundreds of billions of dollars in new investment. With its new economic blueprint, OpenAI hopes to encourage government policies that can facilitate that additional infrastructure.
Most notably, the company has called on policymakers to allow significant investment in American A.I. projects by investors in the Middle East, though the Biden administration has been wary of such investment. OpenAI argues that if countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia do not invest in U.S. infrastructure, their money will flow to China instead.
“Are those countries going to be building on U.S. rails or are they going to be building on C.C.P. rails?” Mr. Lehane said in an interview, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. He described nations like the Emirates and Saudi Arabia not as allies but more as “swing states” that will choose the United States or China for A.I. investments.
OpenAI has also asked the government to take a light approach when creating regulations meant to ensure the safety and security of technologies built by OpenAI and its American rivals.
(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)
Last year, California lawmakers tried and failed to pass a bill that would impose restrictions on tech companies building A.I. systems. OpenAI executives argued that the federal government, not states, should control regulations related to the safety and security of A.I. development.
“That would just create real dissonance, both on a national security and economic competitiveness front,” Mr. Lehane said.
Mr. Altman will begin a charm offensive with an event on Jan. 30 in Washington, where he will discuss the future of A.I. development with lawmakers, economists and Trump administration officials and demonstrate new OpenAI technology that he believes will show the economic power of A.I.
