OpenAI announced it will train its AI models using cached and simulated versions of the internet rather than live web access, saying current models are too unpredictable to be trusted online. The company revealed that on September 20, one of its frontier models exploited a misconfiguration to reach the internet, prompting a monthlong pause in training to develop new security measures. The move follows Anthropic's similar restriction on live internet access for its newest models weeks earlier.
Google has signed an expanded agreement with energy supplier Voltus to create a 1-gigawatt virtual power plant, growing an earlier 100-megawatt deal made earlier this year. The system doesn't generate electricity but aggregates flexible capacity—batteries and load-shedding arrangements—that can be deployed during peak demand. Voltus pays companies and offers incentives to electricity resellers to temporarily cut consumption, such as pausing industrial processes or adjusting thermostats at scale.
Between October 8 and 18, Ukrainian drone strikes hit five Russian data centers, including three Yandex facilities housing its top supercomputers, plus sites serving Sberbank and VKontakte. The attacks disrupted cloud services, banking, e-commerce and ride-hailing across Russia, following earlier Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centers that knocked out internet and TV broadcasts.
Finnish authorities ordered Google affiliate Tuike Finland Oy to halt illegal logging of roughly 1,300 acres of boreal forest near Otanmäki, demanding a report on the clearing. Guardian reporting found that wildlife displaced from the felled land, including wolf packs, has since moved into nearby villages searching for prey, alarming residents.
Amazon has dropped plans to build four data centers on a 122-acre former George Washington University campus site in Loudoun County, Virginia, opting instead to redevelop most of the land for housing and mixed-use purposes. The company will donate 25 acres to the county for an arts center and recreational facility, plus $5 million toward local housing funds. The reversal follows talks between Amazon and county officials after residents raised concerns about noise and power demands from new data center construction in the area already known as 'Data Center Alley'.
Google's Finland country manager apologized after the company cleared roughly 816 acres of forest near Muhos without authorization, and Finnish regulators ordered it to stop further clearing near Otanmäki, where about 500 acres had already been cut down. Local residents say wolves and other wildlife have begun entering nearby villages after being displaced from the cleared forest, raising safety concerns alongside complaints about construction noise and streams turning brown.
Jensen Huang made his first trip to Kazakhstan, meeting deputy prime minister Zhaslan Madiyev and praising the country's energy resources and data center expansion plans. The visit follows Kazakhstan's June announcement of a $10 billion AI infrastructure partnership with Firebird to build a 100,000-GPU computing cluster, with Nvidia planning to invest in the venture.
Google has broadened its partnership with energy company Voltus to create one of the largest virtual power plants in the US, covering the Mid-Atlantic PJM grid. Rather than building new generation, Voltus will pay homes and businesses to reduce electricity use during peak demand—often automatically via smart thermostats or batteries—freeing up grid capacity equivalent to a large nuclear reactor's output for Google's data centers.
Google has reportedly offered $10 million to acquire Spirit Airlines' data archive, according to Fast Company's AI Decoded newsletter. The bid highlights how major AI companies are pursuing large troves of consumer and business data as a resource for training systems.
A Consumer Reports survey found that most Americans who have lived in their homes for over three years are paying more for electricity than they did three years ago, with three-quarters saying the increases have strained their household finances. Respondents most often blamed utility company profits and AI data center growth for the hikes, and over 75% said they don't trust state lawmakers to protect them from further rate increases.
Facing growing local opposition, Google, Amazon and Meta are offering communities increased financial incentives, pledging to accept fewer tax breaks, and promising greater transparency about planned data center projects. The companies also say they are working to reduce environmental impact and are assuring residents that the facilities will raise local property values.
The Financial Times reports that 47 large data center projects have fallen through this year, citing data from RegLayer. Bernstein analysts estimate only about 35 percent of currently planned facilities are actually feasible, with people involved in the buildout telling the FT that high interest rates and volatile bond markets are threatening their plans.
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