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Hydrasun awards contracts for BP Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub

Aberdeen-based Hydrasun has awarded three contracts for major equipment packages for the BP Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub in what has been hailed as a “significant milestone” for the flagship project. The firm, part of the D2Zero stable of decarbonisation and clean energy companies, has delivered the deals having won a bid to design and integrate a […]

Aberdeen-based Hydrasun has awarded three contracts for major equipment packages for the BP Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub in what has been hailed as a “significant milestone” for the flagship project.

The firm, part of the D2Zero stable of decarbonisation and clean energy companies, has delivered the deals having won a bid to design and integrate a hydrogen refuelling station and associated infrastructure.

Hydrasun has struck a deal with Norway’s Nel Hydrogen for a package that includes a 2.5MW electrolyser.

Engineering firm Maximator will deliver a compression package with Sheffield-based Chesterfield Specialist Cylinders coming on board to supply the storage package.

The scalable green hydrogen production, storage and distribution facility powered by renewable energy, is being delivered through a joint venture between energy giant BP and Aberdeen City Council.

The joint venture achieved a financial investment decision in July 2024.

Land at Hareness Road, at Altens Industrial Park in Aberdeen, has been earmarked for the hydrogen production facility.

Hydrasun, a specialist hydrogen system integrator and refuelling solutions provider, said each of the equipment packages will play a “vital role” in ensuring the efficient production, storage, and distribution of hydrogen.

Hydrasun chief executive Neil Thompson. © Supplied by Hydrasun
Hydrasun chief executive Neil Thompson.

Neil Thompson, CEO at Hydrasun said the hub project “highlights the industry’s capability to provide next-generation energy solutions and promising substantial growth opportunities for the region, through both supply chain enhancements and skills development”.

He added: “The first tranche of contract awards marks a significant milestone for the project and supply chain.”

Hydrasun employ over 500 worldwide with around 60 employees currently focused on the hydrogen market sector.

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What is Nvidia Dynamo and why it matters to enterprises?

It uses disaggregated serving to separate the processing and generation phases of large language models (LLMs) on different GPUs, which allows each phase to be optimized independently for its specific needs and ensures maximum GPU resource utilization, the chipmaker explained.   The efficiency gain is made possible as Dynamo has

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Cisco, Nvidia team to deliver secure AI factory infrastructure

Hypershield uses AI to dynamically refine security policies based on application identity and behavior. It automates policy creation, optimization, and enforcement across workloads. In addition, Hypershield promises to let organizations autonomously segment their networks when threats are a problem, gain exploit protection without having to patch or revamp firewalls, and

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Project Willow could create 800 jobs at Grangemouth

A series of clean energy projects at the Grangemouth refinery could create around 800 jobs over the next 15 years, according to the Project Willow summary. The £1.5 million feasibility study, published today, also stated that this figure could potentially rise to 1,200. The document outlines nine potential projects that could be developed at the site, helping secure a long-term industrial future for the refinery These projects are divided into three tracks. In the waste category, the proposed projects are hydrothermal upgrading (breaking down hard-to-recycle plastics), chemical plastics recycling and ABE biorefining (breaking down waste material). In the bio-feedstock track, Grangemouth could gain the capacity to break down Scottish timber into bioethanol, add anaerobic digestion of bioresources and digestate pyrolysis, or convert Scottish cover crops into sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel using low-carbon hydrogen. The third category is offshore wind conduit to replace natural gas with hydrogen, using low-carbon hydrogen to produce methanol and convert it to sustainable aviation fuel, and producing low-carbon ammonia from hydrogen for shipping and chemicals. The Project Willow report envisions that the Grangemouth overhaul could generate £600-700m of total annual gross value add for the Scottish economy by 2040 under its base case, potentially rising to £1-2bn. The developments could also reduce Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 3.5-6 mtpa. However, this will require around £3.5bn of capital investment from the private sector to achieve – and, according to the report, the maximum capex outlays for all projects and growth scenarios would be over £8bn. Under Project Willow’s timelines, the first projects – hydrothermal plastic recycling, dissolution plastics recycling and anaerobic digestion – could come online by 2028. Later projects, such as e-ammonia, e-methanol and methanol to jet fuel, could come online by 2035, with the final phase of bioethanol generation entering operations by 2039.

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Net zero is an ‘economic opportunity’ – Miliband

The transition to net zero is “the economic opportunity of the 21st century”, energy secretary Ed Miliband said on Wednesday. He described the opportunity as the “most important context” for the discussions being had by government in the energy sector. “There’s been a long-standing issue in our country about creating the good jobs at good wages that people want to see,” Miliband said. “We haven’t done enough for them. If you want our growth in our economy, what are good jobs in our economy? This is absolutely at the core, but we haven’t done enough as a country.” The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a report last month showing that the net zero economy grew three times faster than the economy as a whole last year. That report showed the economic opportunity also led to a 10.2% additional increase in employment and higher average wages. Miliband said that Britain has been “losing out” in the race to equip the country with renewable energy jobs, adding that is “what the government is determined to do”. “Denmark has almost all kinds of many renewable jobs per capita,” he said. “Why haven’t we captured these jobs?” A lack of “industrial policy” is the reason Miliband cited for falling behind in the race to create renewable energy jobs. “Industrial policy is at the heart of what we’re trying to do with GB Energy and capitalising, public investment, as part of that,” said Miliband. Despite Jonathan Reynolds’ eight months as trade secretary, the government has “lost” its “muscle memory”, according to Miliband; something he said it is now “regaining” under his leadership. He said the role of the state is to provide a “framework” for industry and break down the barriers to private investment. He made a call to make “public investment and crowd

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ADNOC Drilling Says it is Set to Enhance its Operational Capacity in 2025

In a statement sent to Rigzone by the ADNOC Drilling team on Tuesday, ADNOC Drilling said it is set to enhance its operational capacity this year. In that statement, the company projected a rig count of over 148 by 2026 and more than 151 by 2028. The company owned 129 rigs in 2023, according to annual data hosted on ADNOC Drilling’s website. “The introduction of advanced rigs with AI-enabled technologies will enhance efficiency and bolster … [ADNOC Drilling’s] oilfield services (OFS) segment, delivering greater value to customers,” the company said in the statement. “Having extended its contract in Jordan and gained prequalification in Kuwait and Oman, ADNOC Drilling continues to pave the way for further regional expansion in 2025,” it added. In the statement, ADNOC noted that, to date, Enersol – which is the company’s joint venture with Alpha Dhabi –  has announced acquisitions worth around $800 million to acquire majority stakes in four tech-enabled oilfield service companies, and stated that, looking ahead, it aims to solidify its position as an AI-centric investment company. ADNOC Drilling said in the statement that Turnwell – which is ADNOC Drilling’s joint venture with SLB and Patterson-UTI – “is also well-positioned to enable the recovery of Abu Dhabi’s unconventional resources to meet the global energy demand”. In a statement posted on its site back in December, ADNOC Drilling announced the closing under the agreement to create Turnwell Industries LLC OPC.  “Closing the Turnwell JV with SLB and Patterson-UTI advances our plans to unlock the UAE’s world-class unconventional energy resources, reinforcing the UAE’s position as a global leader in the responsible supply of energy,” Abdulrahman Abdulla Al Seiari, Chief Executive Officer of ADNOC Drilling, said in that statement. “This joint venture is a groundbreaking achievement and is already paying dividends through the significant reduction in well

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Chevron Buys 5 Pct of Hess via Open Market

Chevron Corp. has acquired a 4.99 percent ownership in Hess Corp. via the open market, even as the companies work to complete their embattled merger. Chevron purchased 15.38 million shares of Hess’ common stock in the first quarter of 2025 at prevailing market prices. “These purchases, which were made at prices that represent a discount to the price of shares of Hess common stock implied in the exchange ratio set forth in the Merger Agreement entered into between Chevron and Hess on October 22, 2023, reflect Chevron’s continuing confidence in the consummation of the pending acquisition of Hess”, Chevron said in a regulatory filing. “These purchases of shares of Hess common stock are in addition to repurchases of Chevron common stock being made for the first quarter ending March 31, 2025 pursuant to Chevron’s stock repurchase program”. Hess shareholders had already approved the combination with Chevron, in a vote held May 28, 2024. In a move bringing the merger closer to completion, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier in 2025 finalized an agreement that bars Hess’ chief executive from holding a board position at Chevron, to settle antitrust concerns surrounding the merger. The competition regulator first announced the ban September 30, 2024, as a condition to clear Chevron’s purchase of its smaller rival. The companies said at the time the FTC had concluded its extended review of the transaction under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. On January 17, 2025, the FTC published the final consent order resolving antitrust concerns it had raised over the merger. The decision stated that John Hess should not hold a board, advisory or representative position at Chevron. The FTC alleged the Hess chief executive had talks with officials of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) about controlling oil production and that such

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Drones Start Fire at Russian Oil Depot Near Damaged CPC Link

A Ukrainian drone strike started a fire at a Russian oil depot connected to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pumping station damaged in an attack last month. The depot, located in the village of Kavkazskaya, halted all operations early Wednesday, according to a statement from the regional emergency service. The facility was used to send Russian crude to the Kropotkinskaya pumping station, part of the CPC export conduit, until the station halted operations in mid-February. The attack came just hours after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine. While Putin refused to commit to a 30-day ceasefire, he agreed to a possible plan under which both sides pause strikes on energy infrastructure for the same duration.  Still, Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine came under massive Russian drone attack overnight, that also targeted energy projects, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The CPC infrastructure, stretched between Kazakhstan’s giant oil fields and Russia’s Black Sea coast, is the single-largest route for exports of Kazakh barrels. It also ships some crude from Russian projects. The latest attack highlights the vulnerability of a route that’s key for the nation and its European buyers. “The CPC pipeline continues its operations,” the project’s press service said. “The Kropotkinskaya pumping station is still not operational and repair works there are underway,” so the damaged depot has not impacted flows, it said.  However, the fire damage to the oil depot means that restoration of Russian flows to Kropotkinskaya may take longer than the two-month time-frame CPC initially gave. As a result, some minimal volumes of Russian crude will not be fed into the CPC system until both the depot and the station are back online.  Last year, European clients received about 1 million barrels a day of CPC crude, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The volumes were

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Sable Stays in the Red for 2024

Sable Offshore Corp. has reported a net loss of $617.3 million for 2024, compared to a net loss of $93.7 million for 2023. The company said in a media release that operating and maintenance expenses were $95.2 million, up $34.5 million, or 56.9 percent, compared to $60.7 million for 2023. Sable raised $773.8 million in gross equity proceeds in 2024 and ended the year with 89,310,996 shares of common stock outstanding. During the year, the company received approval from the California Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to implement enhanced pipeline integrity standards for the Las Flores Pipeline System, toward the satisfaction of requirements of a federal court-ordered consent decree. The company also said it made significant progress in executing an anomaly repair program for the pipeline. In February 2025 Sable received confirmation from the County of Santa Barbara that existing permits authorize certain pipeline anomaly repair works in the Coastal Zone. Also that month, the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, delivered notices to the OSFM that it does not object to the OSFM’s approval of Sable’s implementation of enhanced pipeline integrity standards. Sable also said it started hydrotesting the pipeline to prepare for a potential restart of the Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) offshore platforms and the related Las Flores Canyon processing facilities. “We anticipate resuming production at the SYU offshore platforms in the second quarter of 2025 after completing the anomaly repair program, the pipeline hydrotest, and receiving OSFM approval for our updated start-up plan”, the company said. Sable plans to restart the SYU offshore platforms starting with Harmony, followed by Heritage, then Hondo. “The Sable team looks forward to finishing the restoration of the pipeline to as-new condition and restarting production at the Santa Ynez Unit. The restart will provide low-carbon-intensity energy

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Nvidia’s silicon photonics switches bring better power efficiency to AI data centers

Nvidia typically uses partnerships where appropriate, and the new switch design was done in collaboration with multiple vendors across different aspects, including creating the lasers, packaging, and other elements as part of the silicon photonics. Hundreds of patents were also included. Nvidia will licensing the innovations created to its partners and customers with the goal of scaling this model. Nvidia’s partner ecosystem includes TSMC, which provides advanced chip fabrication and 3D chip stacking to integrate silicon photonics into Nvidia’s hardware. Coherent, Eoptolink, Fabrinet, and Innolight are involved in the development, manufacturing, and supply of the transceivers. Additional partners include Browave, Coherent, Corning Incorporated, Fabrinet, Foxconn, Lumentum, SENKO, SPIL, Sumitomo Electric Industries, and TFC Communication. AI has transformed the way data centers are being designed. During his keynote at GTC, CEO Jensen Huang talked about the data center being the “new unit of compute,” which refers to the entire data center having to act like one massive server. That has driven compute to be primarily CPU based to being GPU centric. Now the network needs to evolve to ensure data is being fed to the GPUs at a speed they can process the data. The new co-packaged switches remove external parts, which have historically added a small amount of overhead to networking. Pre-AI this was negligible, but with AI, any slowness in the network leads to dollars being wasted.

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Critical vulnerability in AMI MegaRAC BMC allows server takeover

“In disruptive or destructive attacks, attackers can leverage the often heterogeneous environments in data centers to potentially send malicious commands to every other BMC on the same management segment, forcing all devices to continually reboot in a way that victim operators cannot stop,” the Eclypsium researchers said. “In extreme scenarios, the net impact could be indefinite, unrecoverable downtime until and unless devices are re-provisioned.” BMC vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, including hardcoded credentials, have been of interest for attackers for over a decade. In 2022, security researchers found a malicious implant dubbed iLOBleed that was likely developed by an APT group and was being deployed through vulnerabilities in HPE iLO (HPE’s Integrated Lights-Out) BMC. In 2018, a ransomware group called JungleSec used default credentials for IPMI interfaces to compromise Linux servers. And back in 2016, Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) Serial-over-LAN (SOL) feature which is part of Intel’s Management Engine (Intel ME), was exploited by an APT group as a covert communication channel to transfer files. OEM, server manufacturers in control of patching AMI released an advisory and patches to its OEM partners, but affected users must wait for their server manufacturers to integrate them and release firmware updates. In addition to this vulnerability, AMI also patched a flaw tracked as CVE-2024-54084 that may lead to arbitrary code execution in its AptioV UEFI implementation. HPE and Lenovo have already released updates for their products that integrate AMI’s patch for CVE-2024-54085.

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HPE, Nvidia broaden AI infrastructure lineup

“Accelerated by 2 NVIDIA H100 NVL, [HPE Private Cloud AI Developer System] includes an integrated control node, end-to-end AI software that includes NVIDIA AI Enterprise and HPE AI Essentials, and 32TB of integrated storage providing everything a developer needs to prove and scale AI workloads,” Corrado wrote. In addition, HPE Private Cloud AI includes support for new Nvidia GPUs and blueprints that deliver proven and functioning AI workloads like data extraction with a single click, Corrado wrote. HPE data fabric software HPE has also extended support for its Data Fabric technology across the Private Cloud offering. The Data Fabric aims to create a unified and consistent data layer that spans across diverse locations, including on-premises data centers, public clouds, and edge environments to provide a single, logical view of data, regardless of where it resides, HPE said. “The new release of Data Fabric Software Fabric is the data backbone of the HPE Private Cloud AI data Lakehouse and provides an iceberg interface for PC-AI users to data hosed throughout their enterprise. This unified data layer allows data scientists to connect to external stores and query that data as iceberg compliant data without moving the data,” wrote HPE’s Ashwin Shetty in a blog post. “Apache Iceberg is the emerging format for AI and analytical workloads. With this new release Data Fabric becomes an Iceberg end point for AI engineering. This makes it simple for AI engineering data scientists to easily point to the data lakehouse data source and run a query directly against it. Data Fabric takes care of metadata management, secure access, joining files or objects across any source on-premises or in the cloud in the global namespace.” In addition, HPE Private Cloud AI now supports pre-validated Nvidia blueprints to help customers implement support for AI workloads.  AI infrastructure optimization  Aiming to help customers

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Schneider Electric Adds Data Center and Microgrid Testing Labs to Andover, MA Global R&D Center

Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation, has established its Global Innovation Hubs as key centers for technological advancement, collaboration, and sustainable development. These hub facilities serve as ecosystems where cutting-edge solutions in energy efficiency, industrial automation, and digital transformation are designed, tested, and deployed to address the world’s most pressing energy and sustainability challenges. Energy Management and Industrial Automation Focus Strategically located around the world, Schneider Electric’s Global Innovation Hubs are positioned to drive regional and global innovation in energy management and industrial automation. The hubs focus on developing smart, connected, and sustainable solutions across various sectors, including data centers, smart buildings, industrial automation, and renewable energy. Key aspects of the Schneider Global Innovation Hubs include: Collaboration and Co-Innovation: Partnering with startups, industry leaders, and research institutions to accelerate innovation. Fostering an open ecosystem where ideas can be rapidly developed and tested. Digital Transformation and Automation: Leveraging IoT, AI, and cloud technologies to enhance energy efficiency. Implementing digital twin technology for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance. Sustainability and Energy Efficiency: Developing solutions that contribute to decarbonization and net-zero emissions. Creating energy-efficient systems for buildings, industries, and critical infrastructure. Customer-focused Innovation: Offering live demonstrations, simulation environments, and test labs for customers. Customizing solutions to meet specific industry challenges and regulatory requirements. Schneider’s Andover R&D Lab Highlights While there are 11 hubs worldwide to give the global customer base more convenient locations where they can evaluate Schneider product, the new lab facilities have also been added to one of the company’s five global R&D locations. The selected location is co-located with Schneider’s US research labs in Andover, Massachusetts. With the addition of these two new labs there are now 41 labs located in Andover. Over the last year, Schneider Electric has invested approximately $2.4 billion in R&D. The

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Executive Roundtable: Probing Data Center Power Infrastructure and Energy Resilience in 2025

Ryan Baumann, Rehlko: Industry leaders are taking bold steps to secure long-term energy availability by embracing innovative backup power solutions, forming strategic partnerships, and exploring alternative energy sources. To overcome the challenges ahead, collaboration is key—operators, utilities, OEMs, and technology providers must come together, share insights, and create customized solutions that keep energy both reliable and sustainable as the landscape evolves. One of the most significant strategies is the growing use of alternative energy sources like hydrogen, natural gas, and even nuclear to ensure a steady supply of power. These options provide a more flexible, reliable backup to grid power, especially in markets with fluctuating energy demands or limited infrastructure. Emergency generator systems, when equipped with proper emissions treatment, can also support the grid through peak shaving or interruptible rate programs with utilities. Hydrogen fuel cells, in particular, are becoming a game-changer for backup power. Offering zero-emission, scalable, and efficient solutions, hydrogen is helping data centers move toward their carbon-neutral goals while addressing energy reliability. When integrated into a microgrid, hydrogen fuel cells create a cohesive energy network that can isolate from the main grid during power outages, ensuring continuous energy security for critical infrastructure like data centers. Additionally, natural gas Central Utility Plants (CUPs) are emerging as a key bridging power source, helping large data centers in grid-constrained regions maintain operations until permanent utility power is available. Smart energy solutions, including customized paralleling systems, allow emergency assets to be grid-intertied, enabling utilities and communities to share power burdens during peak periods. By embracing these innovative solutions and fostering collaboration, the industry not only ensures reliable power for today’s data centers but also paves the way for a more sustainable and resilient energy future. Next:  Cooling Imperatives for Managing High-Density AI Workloads 

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From Billions to Trillions: Data Centers’ New Scale of Investment

With Apple’s announcement to spend $500 billion over the next four years briefly overshadowing the $500 billion joint venture announcement of the Stargate project with the federal government, you can almost be forgiven for losing track of the billions of dollars in data center and tech spending announced by other industry players. Apple’s Four-Year, $500 Billion Spend Resonates with Tech The company’s data center infrastructure will see some collateral improvement to support future AI efforts, as a percentage of the funding will be dedicated to enhancing their existing data center infrastructure, though as yet there has been no public discussion of new data center facilities. Apple has committed to spending over $500 billion in the U.S. during the next four years.  This investment aims to bolster various sectors, including AI infrastructure, data centers, and research and development (R&D) in silicon engineering. The initiative also encompasses expanding facilities and teams across multiple states, such as Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington. The spend will be a combination of investments in new infrastructure components along with the expansion of existing facilities. What has been publicly discussed includes the following: New AI Server Manufacturing Facility in Houston, Texas A significant portion of this investment is allocated to constructing a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas. Scheduled to open in 2026, this facility will produce servers designed to power Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI system. These servers, previously manufactured abroad, will now be assembled domestically, enhancing energy efficiency and security for Apple’s data centers. The project is expected to create thousands of jobs in the region. Expansion of Data Center Capacity Apple plans to increase its data center capacity in several states, including North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada. This expansion aims to support the growing demands of AI

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Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs).  In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

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John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

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2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

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OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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