A Data & Society report, based on 18 months of ethnographic interviews with 44 Pennsylvanians, examines why communities are resisting new data center construction despite state officials touting billions in AI infrastructure investment. The researchers found residents grappling with contradictions between promises of economic growth and concerns over energy, land use, and broader AI risks, rather than being swayed by disinformation campaigns.
Nvidia-backed space data center startup Starcloud says it will include Bitcoin mining ASICs on its Starcloud-2 satellite, set to launch later this year, according to CEO Philip Johnston. The company was originally founded to move AI data centers into orbit, leveraging constant solar power and space-based cooling, but is now adding crypto mining as a secondary use of that energy.
A review of recent AI industry announcements about hacking incidents, mathematical breakthroughs, and self-improving systems finds that expert scrutiny often reveals a much less dramatic reality than initial company statements suggested. The pattern shows companies generating significant press attention through bold claims, which later prove overstated once independent analysis occurs. Separately, 22 nations have called for a new global body to set AI safety standards, though the US and China are notably absent from this declaration.
Timnit Gebru argues that AI companies use terms like 'superintelligence' and 'rogue models' to shift blame from corporate decisions onto their products, framing them as autonomous agents. She contends this rhetoric distracts from real harms, including data center pollution, plagiarism, and unauthorized data use for training.
As Andy Burnham begins his first parliamentary session as UK prime minister, Westminster sources say he faces mounting pressure to terminate Palantir's £330m contract managing data on the NHS Federated Data Platform. Palantir holds roughly £670m in UK public sector contracts spanning health, defence and policing, and campaigners are urging Burnham to invoke a break clause that would end the NHS deal in 2027.
Analysis of over a decade of workplace survey data finds that although employees still privately identify as optimists, they are increasingly reluctant to express that optimism openly at work. The trend signals a shift in workplace culture where positive outlooks are being suppressed rather than shared with colleagues.
Anthropic and OpenAI are pursuing deals for smaller, existing data center facilities of roughly 20-30 MW in the UK, Nordic countries, and the US, according to a CNBC report citing sources familiar with the talks. These smaller deployments would supplement the companies' massive gigawatt-scale infrastructure commitments, including Anthropic's $45 billion Nscale deal and OpenAI's Stargate project, which are still years from completion.
Anthropic and OpenAI are pursuing agreements for existing, smaller data center facilities with roughly 20-30 MW of capacity in the UK, Nordic countries and the US, according to a CNBC report citing sources familiar with the talks. This comes even as both companies have already committed tens of billions of dollars toward massive gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure projects, including Anthropic's $45 billion Nscale deal and OpenAI's expanding Stargate commitments.
Alibaba shares rose about 3% in Hong Kong after the company revealed its next-generation Zhenwu V900 AI chip, claiming triple the performance of its predecessor released in May. At its Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, Alibaba also outlined plans to grow its cloud unit's global data center capacity beyond 20 gigawatts by 2032 and confirmed its Qwen 4 model is currently in training.
A commentary published in Nature argues that the world lacks a coordinated fallback system to preserve and share climate-risk intelligence if key data sources fail or become inaccessible. The piece warns that current climate monitoring and forecasting infrastructure is fragmented and vulnerable to funding cuts, political shifts, or technical disruptions.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing data center-related permits until ERCOT finishes auditing the state's grid connection waitlist. This broadens an August moratorium that had already paused new grid approvals for data centers, extending the freeze into environmental sign-offs needed for construction.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission concluded a five-year inquiry into how Google Ireland handled location data across Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy features between 2018 and 2020. The regulator found multiple GDPR violations spanning lawfulness, transparency, accountability and data retention, and has fined the company €403 million while giving it six months to fix its practices.
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