Altman pitches US utilities on OpenAI grid defense program

Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, has been pitching major American electric utilities on using the company's artificial intelligence models to defend the power grid against autonomous cyberattacks, according to reporting first published by Politico. The meetings began in late July 2026 and continued this week at an Edison Electric Institute gathering in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Altman and John McCarrick, OpenAI's head of global energy policy, have met with executives from Duke Energy, Exelon, Southern Company and NextEra Energy, and have engaged with security chiefs at Dominion Energy and Southern California Edison, according to the reporting. Together, those companies serve more than half of the US population. The pitch centers on Daybreak, OpenAI's cybersecurity initiative. OpenAI has already committed $1 billion to the program, which covers water utilities and community banks, and electric utilities represent an extension of that existing commitment rather than a new one. No additional funding figure has been announced, and no utility has publicly confirmed a contract or formal evaluation. The outreach comes with an awkward backdrop.