The BaseEssayThe Guardian
Datacentres are deeply unpopular – so the geniuses at OpenAI are rebranding them | Arwa Mahdawi
In an opinion column, the Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi argues that datacentres are unpopular across the political spectrum for raising utility bills, and mocks OpenAI's new name for them, alongside President Trump's push to say "superintelligence" instead of AI.
Why it matters
The same thing, for different readers.
What it means for you
The Guardian's columnist says datacentres are disliked across the political spectrum for driving up utility bills, and that a new name will not change that.
The question it raises
Arwa Mahdawi's column asks whether renaming a contested technology is a substitute for improving people's lives.
The record
- Questions
- What happens to work, income and the economy? · How is AI changing childhood, health and daily life?
- People
- Arwa Mahdawi (Wrote it) · Donald Trump (Mentioned, President)
- What we read
- We have read only the description the publisher gives. No quotations until someone reads the source itself.
- Found by
- The Radar, run of November 4, 2026, via
the-guardian-ai(tier 2: a major outlet’s own reporting) - Cite this
- The Guardian, “Datacentres are deeply unpopular – so the geniuses at OpenAI are rebranding them | Arwa Mahdawi”, November 3, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/guardian-2026-11-03-openai-rebranding-datacentres
Our notesLight lane: the new name OpenAI is using is not in the excerpt. Opinion column, not reporting.