I’ve been working in AI for years – there’s one big problem no one is really addressing
2 days, 17 hours ago

I’ve been working in AI for years – there’s one big problem no one is really addressing

The Independent  

At the heart of the fanfare over the government’s unveiling of its AI Opportunities Action Plan – 50 recommendations to supercharge the UK as a new AI superpower – were three central planks: the creation of AI “growth zones” in the UK, the huge expansion of government-owned AI computing capacity, including a new supercomputer; and the creation of an AI Energy Council. Further afield, the speed of growth in AI is such that we have not yet caught up by creating a global measurement of its likely energy use and how fast it may spiral – the concern being it will outstrip the creation of green energy, placing yet more pressure on our current energy sources. The International Energy Agency warned last year: “The combination of rapidly growing size of models and computing demand are likely to outpace strong energy efficiency improvements, resulting in a net growth in total AI-related energy use in the coming years.” Change is afoot: one example, the EU is about to pass laws that require all but the smallest data centres to publish their energy consumption. The aim is to direct support to the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower – mainly by developing small modular nuclear reactors.

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UK will be ‘AI superpower’, says Starmer as he unveils plans to boost growth
2 days, 21 hours ago

UK will be ‘AI superpower’, says Starmer as he unveils plans to boost growth

The Independent  

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The UK will be an AI “superpower”, Sir Keir Starmer said …

Microsoft to Spend $80 Billion on AI Data Centers This Year
1 week, 4 days ago

Microsoft to Spend $80 Billion on AI Data Centers This Year

Deccan Chronicle  

Microsoft Corp. plans to spend $80 billion this fiscal year building out data centers, underscoring the intense capital requirements of artificial intelligence. Cloud infrastructure providers like Microsoft and Amazon.com Inc. have been racing to expand computing capacity by constructing new data centers. In the previous fiscal year ending in June 2024, Microsoft spent more than $50 billion on capital expenditures, …

We need energy for AI, and AI for energy
2 weeks, 1 day ago

We need energy for AI, and AI for energy

Live Mint  

In 1903, Mark Twain wrote that “It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing." As AI usage increases, its energy requirements will rise, and if demand outstrips supply, the technology’s development will be strangled. To allow AI’s development to taper off …

Big tech firms bet on nuclear energy: Google, Amazon, Microsoft among others focus on its revival
2 weeks, 4 days ago

Big tech firms bet on nuclear energy: Google, Amazon, Microsoft among others focus on its revival

Live Mint  

Big tech firms like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are among the most popular companies exploring opportunities or investing in nuclear power projects as data centre requirements push global energy demand and production to new limits, reported the news portal CNBC on Saturday, December 28. The global electricity usage is likely to rise as much as 75 per cent by …

Generative AI and Climate Change Are on a Collision Course
4 weeks, 1 day ago

Generative AI and Climate Change Are on a Collision Course

Wired  

In 2025, AI and climate change, two of the biggest societal disruptors we're facing, will collide. These range from generating colossal amounts of energy to power the data centers that run tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney to the millions of gallons of freshwater that are pumped through these data centers to make sure they don’t overheat and the tons …

Big Tech Will Scour the Globe in Its Search for Cheap Energy
1 month ago

Big Tech Will Scour the Globe in Its Search for Cheap Energy

Wired  

On the southern tip of Malaysia lies the state of Johor, renowned for its beaches and mountainous jungle. But Johor has a new boom industry: data centers to power generative AI, with Microsoft committing more than $2 billion on just such a data center. This draw to deliver AI is so powerful that big tech firms are buying dirty power …

Meta joins Google, Amazon & OpenAI, latest among tech giants turning to nuclear power to fuel AI ambitions
1 month, 1 week ago

Meta joins Google, Amazon & OpenAI, latest among tech giants turning to nuclear power to fuel AI ambitions

Firstpost  

Meta has issued a call for proposals for bringing nuclear reactors online by the early 2030s to support its data centres and the surrounding communities. It is looking for partners who can develop and manage a facility that has a capacity of 1 to 4 gigawatts Meta’s interest in nuclear power reflects the increasing energy demands of AI technologies, which …

How to make AI less of a power guzzler
1 month, 3 weeks ago

How to make AI less of a power guzzler

Live Mint  

Artificial intelligence is poised to transform both work and everyday life. But it has a dark underside: AI computer centers consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, to power their processing chips and cool the heat they emit. The biggest AI providers, including Amazon, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta and Microsoft, say they are working to be both carbon-neutral and replenish …

AI is giving us a nuclear renaissance: Can it help solve the climate crisis too?
1 month, 3 weeks ago

AI is giving us a nuclear renaissance: Can it help solve the climate crisis too?

Live Mint  

Nuclear energy was the artificial intelligence of the 1960s. Despite its known dangers—Hiroshima and Nagasaki were quite recent back then—there was great optimism over how nuclear technology could change the world with abundant cheap energy, and free humanity from the tyranny of fossil fuels. Capturing this zeitgeist, US president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his famous ‘Atoms for Peace’ speech at …

Government launches competition to find AI solutions to boost UK clean energy
1 month, 4 weeks ago

Government launches competition to find AI solutions to boost UK clean energy

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A competition to find innovative new solutions to how artificial intelligence can be used to …

Bees scupper Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for a nuclear-powered AI centre
2 months, 1 week ago

Bees scupper Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for a nuclear-powered AI centre

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Last month, Google announced that it had signed “the world’s first corporate agreement” to purchase nuclear energy …

Tech companies are signing nuclear deals because AI is sucking up too much energy
2 months, 4 weeks ago

Tech companies are signing nuclear deals because AI is sucking up too much energy

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. And most recently, Amazon has perhaps taken the biggest step of the trio, signing three deals to …

Amazon, Google make dueling nuclear investments to power data centers with clean energy
2 months, 4 weeks ago

Amazon, Google make dueling nuclear investments to power data centers with clean energy

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Amazon on Wednesday said that …

What could go wrong? Google throws support behind new nuclear reactors that will be used to power AI systems
3 months ago

What could go wrong? Google throws support behind new nuclear reactors that will be used to power AI systems

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Google is backing the construction of seven new small nuclear reactors in the …

Silicon Valley has a plan to save humanity: Just flip on the nuclear reactors
3 months, 2 weeks ago

Silicon Valley has a plan to save humanity: Just flip on the nuclear reactors

CNN  

A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. Microsoft this month secured a deal to reopen a reactor on Three Mile Island, the site of the 1979 partial meltdown near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to give the company enough power to sustain its AI growth. And while AI doomer predictions often get brushed off as alarmist forecasts, you can’t …

Thirst for power complicates ESG investors’ love affair with tech stocks
3 months, 2 weeks ago

Thirst for power complicates ESG investors’ love affair with tech stocks

The Hindu  

Investors who manage hundreds of billions of dollars are pressing Microsoft, Alphabet and others for more information on the power needed for artificial intelligence and advanced computing, to help decide whether the sector should stay heavily represented in sustainable funds, investors said. While these conversations are at an early stage, six fund industry executives in Europe and the United States …

Is artificial intelligence worth all the money and energy it’s guzzling?
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Is artificial intelligence worth all the money and energy it’s guzzling?

Live Mint  

An incident on 28 March 1979 changed the course of energy forever, at least in the US. The reason: to meet its burgeoning need for clean energy for its massive artificial intelligence data centres, as the tech industry balances building giant energy-sucking AI models with its environmental, social and governance goals. The global concern this spawned has led Big Tech …

How to invest in the UK firms embracing the AI revolution
4 months, 4 weeks ago

How to invest in the UK firms embracing the AI revolution

Daily Mail  

Nvidia has become synonymous with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, with early investors enjoying meteoric share price growth alongside bumper profits. Streamlined: Tool hire firm Speedy Hire now uses AI to optimise its equipment distribution an inventory While Nvidia has seen its shares surge more than 600 per cent since January 2023, and almost 3,000 per cent over the …

Letters to the Editor: Don’t let the AI revolution in California be powered by fossil fuels
4 months, 4 weeks ago

Letters to the Editor: Don’t let the AI revolution in California be powered by fossil fuels

LA Times  

To the editor: As your editorial notes, the dramatic rise in electricity demand from California’s growing number of data centers can cripple our clean energy transition. Putting the debate aside about how essential some AI functions are, it’s clear that we should avoid backsliding on our transition to clean energy by powering these facilities with dirty fossil fuels that pollute …

Editorial: Generative AI is an energy hog and that could hurt progress fighting climate change
5 months ago

Editorial: Generative AI is an energy hog and that could hurt progress fighting climate change

LA Times  

Artificial intelligence is one of the world’s fast-growing technologies, with Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and others rolling out generative AI models. It’s also one of the most energy-intensive technologies, and that is raising alarm that AI data centers’ thirst for electricity will increase planet-warming emissions and strain the electrical grid. Data centers, or large buildings filled with computer servers, already …

Britain’s net zero dream could be crushed by big tech
5 months, 1 week ago

Britain’s net zero dream could be crushed by big tech

The Telegraph  

Mr Leach is aware of the dilemmas at play. Nearly 750 people from the surrounding villages have signed a petition against the vast 3.5 million square foot development, which could eventually house big tech tenants, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Eleanor Alexander, managing director at Digital Reef, the company behind the development next to Mr Leach’s house, admitted they …

AI brings soaring emissions for Google and Microsoft, a major contributor to climate change
6 months ago

AI brings soaring emissions for Google and Microsoft, a major contributor to climate change

NPR  

AI brings soaring emissions for Google and Microsoft, a major contributor to climate change toggle caption Josh Edelson/Getty Images Researcher Jesse Dodge did some back-of-the-napkin math on the amount of energy AI chatbots use. “And they're willing to pour a ton of resources into that, including things like training AI systems on bigger and bigger data centers all the way …

Google falling short of important climate target, cites electricity needs of AI
6 months, 1 week ago

Google falling short of important climate target, cites electricity needs of AI

Associated Press  

Three years ago, Google set an ambitious plan to address climate change by going “net zero,” meaning it would release no more climate-changing gases into the air than it removes, by 2030. Google cited artificial intelligence and the demand it puts on data centers, which require massive amounts of electricity, for last year’s growth. “We know this is not going …

Google falling short of important climate target, cites electricity needs of AI
6 months, 1 week ago

Google falling short of important climate target, cites electricity needs of AI

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Google cited artificial intelligence and …

Google blames AI as its emissions grow instead of heading to net zero
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Google blames AI as its emissions grow instead of heading to net zero

Al Jazeera  

Google points to artificial intelligence and the demand it puts on energy-hungry data centres for its growth in emissions. Google cited artificial intelligence and the demand it puts on data centres, which require massive amounts of electricity, for last year’s growth. “We know this is not going to be easy and that our approach will need to continue to evolve,” …

The Big-Tech Clean Energy Crunch Is Here
55 years ago

The Big-Tech Clean Energy Crunch Is Here

Wired  

Big Tech’s appetite for energy is just about visible from the east coast of Scotland. “There is a recognition that as power demand increases, the industry will have to find alternative energy sources,” says Colm Shorten, senior director of data center strategy at real estate services company JLL, explaining that server farms are increasingly looking for “behind-the-wire” power supply, whether …

ChatGPT’s boss claims nuclear fusion is the answer to AI’s soaring energy needs. Experts say not so fast
9 months, 3 weeks ago

ChatGPT’s boss claims nuclear fusion is the answer to AI’s soaring energy needs. Experts say not so fast

CNN  

CNN — Artificial intelligence is energy-hungry and as companies race to make it bigger, smarter and more complex, its thirst for electricity will increase even further. “There’s no way to get there without a breakthrough, we need fusion,” alongside scaling up other renewable energy sources, Altman said in a January interview. Then in March, when podcaster and computer scientist Lex …

Big Tech’s Latest Obsession Is Finding Enough Energy
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Big Tech’s Latest Obsession Is Finding Enough Energy

Live Mint  

HOUSTON—Every March, thousands of executives take over a downtown hotel here to reach oil and gas deals and haggle over plans to tackle climate change. But most everyone agreed the data centers needed to advance AI will require so much power they could strain the power grid and stymie the transition to cleaner energy sources. Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest …

Britain invests 100 million pounds in AI research and regulation
11 months, 1 week ago

Britain invests 100 million pounds in AI research and regulation

The Hindu  

Britain on Tuesday said it would spend more than 100 million pounds to launch nine new research hubs in artificial intelligence and train regulators about the technology. "AI is moving fast, but we have shown that humans can move just as fast," technology minister Michelle Donelan said in a statement. Nearly 90 million pounds would go towards the hubs, which …

New Data-Center Property Investment Signals AI Boom
1 year ago

New Data-Center Property Investment Signals AI Boom

Live Mint  

One of the world’s largest data-center developers is getting a $6.4 billion equity infusion, the latest sign that this property sector is booming alongside the rise in artificial intelligence. Vantage Data Centers plans to use the capital from digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group and Silver Lake, a technology investment firm, to add more than 3 gigawatts of capacity globally. This …

How AI could power the climate breakthrough the world needs
1 year, 1 month ago

How AI could power the climate breakthrough the world needs

CNN  

Programming note: Listen to a version of this story on CNN’s One Thing podcast with David Rind. “The way we think about AI is it’s a time and effectiveness multiplier to the solutions for climate change,” Gupta told CNN. “We want to make it easier for people to make better choices.” Finding the right balance There’s a downside to all …

UK pledges £38 million for AI projects including labs in Africa
1 year, 2 months ago

UK pledges £38 million for AI projects including labs in Africa

The Independent  

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The commitment is part of an £80 million collaboration between Britain, Canada and the …

Artificial intelligence could use as much electricity as a small country
1 year, 3 months ago

Artificial intelligence could use as much electricity as a small country

Live Mint  

Currently, artificial intelligence is dominating different spaces, from technology to medicine. In a commentary published October 10 in the journal Joule, author Alex de Vries warned that increased adoption of AI tools in the future could surge its energy footprints so much so that it could exceed the power demands of some countries, a Science Daily report said. Elaborating on …

Tech’s carbon footprint: can AI revolutionize responsibly?
1 year, 4 months ago

Tech’s carbon footprint: can AI revolutionize responsibly?

The Hindu  

Across the globe, data servers are humming, consuming both megawatts and precious natural resources to bring life to our digital world. "Pandora's box is open," said Arun Iyengar, CEO of Untether AI, a highly specialized chip-making company that strives to make AI more energy efficient. The transformation of the world's data servers to AI readiness is already well underway, in …

Microsoft's Nadella says India's digital infra building capability far ahead of others
2 years ago

Microsoft's Nadella says India's digital infra building capability far ahead of others

Live Mint  

NEW DELHI :"Oh, please don’t make me laugh. That’s the witty response that Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., got when he prompted artificial intelligence -powered ChatGPT to write a play where Mumbai’s favourite street food--the vada pav--would argue its supremacy against competitors including Delhi's bhel puri. India-born Nadella, who is on a four-day tour of …

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