NSW government ‘absolutely thrilled’ to welcome OpenAI … until someone mentioned the Terminator films | Technology

The NSW technology minister’s office has removed a statement that it was “absolutely excited” about OpenAI opening an office in Sydney after employees joked that dystopian Skynet could be heading to the city within five years.

AI giant OpenAI announced its first Australian office in August last year, before opening in December.

In emails tabled in the NSW parliament this week and provided to Guardian Australia, staff in technology minister Anoulack Chanthivong’s office disputed the wording of media comments welcoming the announcement.

The beginning read: “The Minns Labor government is absolutely thrilled to welcome the news that OpenAI will open its first Australian office in Sydney later this year”, after which the phrase “absolutely thrilled” was removed, leaving only “we welcome the news”.

The minister’s deputy chief of staff responded, following the proposed changes, “Okay – next time I’ll usher in the ‘golden age’.”

“I still believe we’re heading towards a Skynet situation within the next 5 years, so I don’t want to go on record endorsing any ‘golden age’,” joked another staffer.

Skynet is the fictional artificial intelligence of the Terminator film series that achieves sentience and wipes out billions of people in Judgment Day.

Despite staff restraint, documents reveal how fervently members of the NSW government appealed to the US tech company ahead of its decision to open a Sydney office.

Key messages delivered at a meeting between Chanthivong and OpenAI in June last year to encourage the company to invest in NSW included that Sydney is the number one startup location in the southern hemisphere, attracts 65% of all venture capital in Australia, and is home to technology companies Atlassian, Canva and Afterpay.

It was also suggested that the minister tell OpenAI that major US technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, AWS and IBM have their Australian headquarters in Sydney.

“NSW is home to Australia’s AI ecosystem,” the speakers said. “45% of all AI businesses in Australia are in NSW.”

Reached for comment, a spokesman said the NSW government was committed to embracing AI opportunities “while ensuring emerging technologies are used responsibly and in the public interest”.

The state government is developing a strategy on data center development to support the growing AI sector but is yet to announce when it will be released.

Asked on Thursday whether NSW was falling behind Victoria and South Australia in the NSW inquiry into data centres, environment minister Penny Sharpe said she was not concerned because Sydney constituted a “highly desirable location”.

State and federal governments are also balancing a push for AI investment with growing societal concerns about data centers, including their impact on the environment.

Data centers often use diesel generators when there are power outages. Documents from a May 2026 meeting revealed NSW environmental protection authority modeling showing that if all eight major data centers in the Sydney basin were to run their generators at the same time, the one-hour air pollution load would be five to six times greater than all electricity generation in NSW and five to six times greater than that of all motor vehicles in NSW.

“Given that multiple people will be affected by a power outage, cumulative effects are critical. [datacentres] can be opened [generator] The document stated:

Belinda Dennett, chief executive of Data Centers Australia, said this was the worst case scenario modeled and would be an extremely rare and catastrophic event.

“Backup generators are backup equipment, not power plants. They operate mostly for short, incremental tests, are used in rare emergencies, and each facility’s emissions have already been modeled against EPA’s air quality criteria as a condition of approval,” he said.

NSW Greens MLC Abigail Boyd, who chairs the state’s data centers inquiry, said documents showed current weather impact assessments on data centers were not robust as they underestimated hours.

“Data center loads are a significant source of grid stress and variability; as grid and transmission capacity is drawn by more data centers, power outage events are more likely to occur,” he said.

There could be a situation where data center power demand drives customers off the network or data centers are disconnected and forced to use diesel generators, Boyd said.

“This is a disaster waiting to happen. Especially given the proximity of many of these projects to dense residential areas and schools.”