OpenAI Rebrands Data Centers as 'Compute Campuses' — Podcast Reveals Focus-Group Backlash
kevinroose · x · 2026-11-06
NYT tech reporter Kevin Roose shared a clip from his podcast Machine Gods featuring Rob Flaherty mocking OpenAI's plan to call data centers "compute campuses." Flaherty riffed alternative names ("data bouncy castles," "data magic kingdoms") and recounted a data-center comms consultant whose joke focus-group idea of adding food courts came back as "the worst idea I've ever seen tested."
The new episode also covers what the midterms mean for AI regulation and space data centers. The PR-messaging debate itself is highly shareable industry comedy.
More from Fun
- Licklider's typed copy of "Computer Graphics as a Medium of Artistic Expression" still bears coffee stains — alexobenauer · 2026-11-06
- eigenrobot's Game of Thrones rule: being broken is a prerequisite for heroism — eigenrobot · 2026-11-06
- 170+ AI creators premiere The LoopHole Project, one continuous film made collaboratively — LudovicCreator · 2026-11-06
- Classic 4chan 'pretending to be Ryan Gosling for 4 years' greentext goes viral in AI circles — chris_j_paxton · 2026-11-06
- Dev builds free trippy game with Claude and says it blew him away — Cbrantley010 · 2026-11-06
- playmcp turns any track into a playable music game via AI agents — WhaleSong2077 · 2026-11-06