ISO New England prepares for 11% rise in annual electricity consumption

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ISO New England prepares for 11% rise in annual electricity consumption

The electrification of heating systems and the adoption of electric vehicles are expected to drive New England annual electricity consumption to rise 11% over the next decade, according to the region’s grid operator. “The ISO is forecasting steady growth in net annual energy use as state policy goals for carbon emissions reductions drive the increased […]

“The ISO is forecasting steady growth in net annual energy use as state policy goals for carbon emissions reductions drive the increased electrification of heating systems and transportation in the region,” the regional grid operator said in a Thursday blog post about its 2025–2034 Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission.

Net annual energy usage in the region has trended down for the last two decades, the ISO said, “mainly due to an increase in energy efficiency from advanced cooling and heating technologies, energy-efficient appliances and lighting, and the increased prevalence of [behind-the-meter solar PV] generation. However, ISO New England is predicting that trend will reverse in the next decade.”

The regional grid serves Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The report indicates net annual energy use across the region is expected to grow by 1.2% annually through 2034. Behind-the-meter solar will reduce consumption of grid-supplied electricity by 5,555 GWh this year, rising to 11,487 GWh in 2034, the ISO said. Electric vehicles are expected to account for 8,735 GWh of energy use in 2034, while heating electrification is expected to account for 8,049 GWh that year, the grid operator said.

Summer net peak demand is also expected to rise by 0.9% annually across the next 10 years. Behind-the-meter solar will reduce the summer peak by an average of 1,870 MW, the grid operator said.

“Although in past years the summer peak typically occurred in the afternoon, widespread adoption of BTM PV has effectively pushed the peak toward evening,” ISO New England said. “This means that even as more BTM PV comes on line, its impact on summer peaks will not significantly increase.”

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IBM introduces new generation of LinuxOne AI mainframe

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Juniper extends Mist AI observability, performance management capabilities

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StorONE and Phison partner for AI-native on-premises storage platform

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IBM wrangles AI agents to work across complex enterprise environments

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Marubeni to Invest in ExxonMobil Ammonia Project in Texas

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Marubeni Corp. on Wednesday announced a deal for the Japanese diversified company to buy about 250,000 metric tons a year of ammonia from a planned Texas project of the energy giant. Marubeni also agreed to acquire a stake in the facility, planned to rise in Baytown city with production of up to 1 billion cubic feet a day of low-carbon hydrogen and over 1 million metric tons per annum of low-carbon ammonia, a joint statement said. ExxonMobil has been in talks with several potential Japanese customers. It expects to approve the project this year depending on the policy environment and other market conditions. About 98 percent of CO2 emissions from the facility’s hydrogen production would be captured for permanent sequestration, according to ExxonMobil. This hydrogen would then be used to produce ammonia, which is commonly used as a fertilizer but also as a component in manufacturing plastics, explosives and chemicals, among other uses. Marubeni will supply its offtake mainly to Kobe Power Plant of Kobe Steel Ltd. The statement did not disclose the exact duration of the “long-term” agreement. “By Japan’s fiscal year 2030, Kobe Power Plant aims to co-fire low-carbon ammonia with existing fuel, reducing CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions”, the statement said. “Through this supply chain, Marubeni aims to assist the decarbonization of not only Japan’s power sector but also its hard-to-abate sectors, such as the steel manufacturing industry, chemical industry, transportation industry and others”. “Marubeni will take this first step together with ExxonMobil in the aim of establishing a global low-carbon ammonia supply chain for Japan through the supply of low-carbon ammonia to the Kobe Power Plant,” said Yoshiaki Yokota, senior managing executive officer of Marubeni. “Additionally, we aim to collaborate beyond this supply chain and strive towards the launch of a global market for

Harbour Energy Expects to Cut Around 250 Jobs

Harbour Energy has told Rigzone that it expects to cut around 250 jobs. “Harbour is launching a review of its UK operations, which we expect to result in a reduction of around 250 onshore roles in our Aberdeen-based business unit,” Scott Barr, the managing director for Harbour Energy’s UK business unit, said in a statement sent to Rigzone late Wednesday. “The review is unfortunately necessary to align staffing levels with lower levels of investment, due mainly to the government’s ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment,” he added. In the statement, Barr said the company is also reviewing the resourcing required to support its Viking carbon capture and storage project, “where progress beyond front-end engineering design and the recent securing of a Development Consent Order has been hindered by repeated delays to the government’s Track 2 process”. “Harbour remains among the largest producers in the UK North Sea and, while our dedicated and highly skilled people will continue to produce vital energy safely and responsibly, we must take these difficult steps in response to the challenges presented by the current external environment,” Barr noted in the statement. According to Harbour Energy’s website, the company has 3,400 employees and direct contract staff. A cut of 250 to this figure represents a 7.35 percent reduction. Rigzone asked HM Treasury (HMT) and the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for comment on Barr’s statement. In response, HMT sent Rigzone a comment from the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, in which Reeves said, “first of all, my thoughts are with anybody who works for a company who is worried about their job”. “Every company has to take commercial decisions for their business. And of course, many other companies are operating in this sphere, are not

Impairment Hurts Ovintiv Results

North American oil and natural gas exploration and production company Ovintiv Inc. has reported a net loss of $159 million for the first quarter of 2025, versus a net income of $338 million for Q1 2024. The results were impacted by a non-cash ceiling test impairment of $557 million, the company said in a media release. Total revenues for the first quarter were at $2.37 billion, on par with the $2.35 billion logged for the corresponding quarter a year prior. Average production in the first quarter was approximately 588,000 barrels of oil equivalent, including 206,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and condensate, 89 bpd of other natural gas liquids (C2 to C4) and 1,763 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. “Our strong first quarter results continue to build our track record of driving operational excellence to maximize free cash flow”, Brendan McCracken, Ovintiv President and CEO, said. “We have seamlessly integrated the newly acquired Montney assets into our existing operations, and our team is well on its way to achieving the targeted $1.5 million per well cost reduction synergies. “Our business was built using mid-cycle prices of $55 WTI and $2.75 NYMEX. This was purposeful to ensure we can continue to generate superior returns and free cash flow throughout the cycle. “The recent volatility has validated our choice of maintenance level investment in 2025. We are maintaining our capital investment plans today, but we have full flexibility to lower capital and will do so if commodity prices deteriorate”. Excluding hedge effects, Ovintiv’s average realized prices in the first quarter were $70.30 per barrel for oil and condensate (98 percent of WTI), $23.21 per barrel for other NGLs (C2-C4), and $2.98 per thousand cubic feet for natural gas (82 percent of NYMEX), leading to an overall average realized price

Aster Acquires Chevron Phillips Singapore Chemicals

Aster Chemicals and Energy (Aster) has agreed to acquire Chevron Phillips Singapore Chemicals Pte Ltd (CPSC). CPSC is a joint venture between Chevron Phillips Chemical, EDB Investments Pte Ltd, and Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd. According to Chevron Phillips Chemical, CPSC shareholders have agreed to sell 100 percent of their shares. With the acquisition of CPSC, Aster has secured ownership of a 400,000 tons per annum high-density polyethylene manufacturing facility on Jurong Island, Singapore. The facility is owned and operated by CPSC, and following the acquisition, the company’s 150 employees are expected to have an opportunity to join Aster, Chevron Phillips Chemical said. “CPSC is an excellent strategic fit for Aster, and we are confident the business will thrive as part of its portfolio,” Justine Smith, CPChem Executive Vice President of Commercial, said. “With this transaction, we are optimizing our asset portfolio to ensure we remain competitive and continue to serve as the supplier of choice to our global customers”. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. Chevron Phillips Chemical said its Asia headquarters, responsible for the sales and marketing of products throughout the region, will remain in Singapore. “This acquisition represents a key achievement for Aster, supporting our strategic goals with new capabilities and strengthening our offerings to customers. CPSC’s manufacturing operations will enhance our ecosystem and advance opportunities for innovation and new collaboration”, Erwin Ciputra, Group CEO of Aster, said. Aster said it has a fully integrated refinery capacity of 237,000 barrels per day alongside a 1.1 million metric ton ethylene cracker on Bukom Island, and downstream chemical assets on Jurong Island. To contact the author, email [email protected] What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the Rigzone Energy Network. The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you

North Sea tanker collision responders celebrated at Humber awards

The rapid response from those working in Grimsby’s offshore wind cluster to the tragic oil tanker collision has been recognised by the industry. A special accolade was presented to key figures behind the remarkable rescue operation in the near North Sea at the Humber Renewables Awards, with a standing ovation given by the 200-strong audience. Guests at the annual gala dinner heard how crew transfer vessels dropping technicians at a wind farm were first on the scene following the mayday call, as the high profile incident unfolded off the East Yorkshire coast on March 10. A total of 36 of the 37 sailors were rescued by the Windcat team working on RWE’s Humber Gateway, with the quick-thinking actions of crew seeing them tow lifeboats to safety from burning waters, as spilled aviation fuel burned and the fire on the conjoined vessels intensified. Back on land emergency services mustered at RWE’s Grimsby base, with full incident co-ordination taking place from the control room. Skipper Brian Smith, his Windcat fleet manager Dean Login and RWE’s Humber Gateway general manager Nathan Kerins’ unstinting efforts were applauded following BBC presenter Phillip Norton’s poignant citation, with the Grimsby-born journalist invited to the stage having covered the news for the national network as it unfolded. Kerins said: “The guys in the field gave exemplary examples of bravery, commitment and professionalism. It is absolutely right they are recognised. The whole industry demonstrated what they can offer to the wider maritime community. The drilling and the readiness, in terms of urgency from an operational perspective, lends itself to that.” Smith was first on the scene on that fateful morning. He said: “As maritime professionals we are expected to act as soon as we see or hear a mayday, and I would expect another vessel to do the same

Harbour Energy reports ‘strong start to the year’ despite job cuts

Following news that it would cut 250 jobs from its onshore Aberdeen workforce, Harbour Energy has reported a “strong start to the year”. The UK’s largest oil and gas producer reiterated points about the UK’s challenging fiscal regime being at the heart of the decision to slash its north-east headcount by 25%, adding that “significantly lower investment levels” played a part in the decision. Business commentators said that the latest Harbour Energy redundancies served as a “devastating blow” for those impacted and that the news was “just the tip of the iceberg, unless the government changes course”. Despite this, chief executive Linda Cook announced news of “a strong start to the year” to shareholders on Thursday morning. In the first quarter of the year, Harbour Energy production levels averaged out at 500 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd). This, alongside “improved European gas price realisations and lower unit costs”, has resulted in revenues of $2.8 billion and a free cash flow of $700 million. Cook added: “Recent market volatility reinforces the benefits of our diverse portfolio and our prudent approach to risk management. ” Following the takeover of Wintershall Dea last year, Norway is now Harbour Energy’s largest producing region. However, in the first quarter it brought new wells on stream in the UK, as well as Argentina, Egypt and Germany. The UK is still the North Sea player’s second largest producing area, falling just shy of its Nordic neighbour. Harbour produced 180 kboepd in the first period of 2025 while producing 165 kboepd in the UK. These figures mark a marginal uptick in production in the UK since last year’s reporting of 161 kboepd. In its latest trading update, the firm announced that its production guidance for the year had increased slightly, moving from 450-475 kboepd to

Liquid cooling technologies: reducing data center environmental impact

“Highly optimized cold-plate or one-phase immersion cooling technologies can perform on par with two-phase immersion, making all three liquid-cooling technologies desirable options,” the researchers wrote. Factors to consider There are numerous factors to consider when adopting liquid cooling technologies, according to Microsoft’s researchers. First, they advise performing a full environmental, health, and safety analysis, and end-to-end life cycle impact analysis. “Analyzing the full data center ecosystem to include systems interactions across software, chip, server, rack, tank, and cooling fluids allows decision makers to understand where savings in environmental impacts can be made,” they wrote. It is also important to engage with fluid vendors and regulators early, to understand chemical composition, disposal methods, and compliance risks. And associated socioeconomic, community, and business impacts are equally critical to assess. More specific environmental considerations include ozone depletion and global warming potential; the researchers emphasized that operators should only use fluids with low to zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) values, and not hydrofluorocarbons or carbon dioxide. It is also critical to analyze a fluid’s viscosity (thickness or stickiness), flammability, and overall volatility. And operators should only use fluids with minimal bioaccumulation (the buildup of chemicals in lifeforms, typically in fish) and terrestrial and aquatic toxicity. Finally, once up and running, data center operators should monitor server lifespan and failure rates, tracking performance uptime and adjusting IT refresh rates accordingly.

Cisco unveils prototype quantum networking chip

Clock synchronization allows for coordinated time-dependent communications between end points that might be cloud databases or in large global databases that could be sitting across the country or across the world, he said. “We saw recently when we were visiting Lawrence Berkeley Labs where they have all of these data sources such as radio telescopes, optical telescopes, satellites, the James Webb platform. All of these end points are taking snapshots of a piece of space, and they need to synchronize those snapshots to the picosecond level, because you want to detect things like meteorites, something that is moving faster than the rotational speed of planet Earth. So the only way you can detect that quickly is if you synchronize these snapshots at the picosecond level,” Pandey said. For security use cases, the chip can ensure that if an eavesdropper tries to intercept the quantum signals carrying the key, they will likely disturb the state of the qubits, and this disturbance can be detected by the legitimate communicating parties and the link will be dropped, protecting the sender’s data. This feature is typically implemented in a Quantum Key Distribution system. Location information can serve as a critical credential for systems to authenticate control access, Pandey said. The prototype quantum entanglement chip is just part of the research Cisco is doing to accelerate practical quantum computing and the development of future quantum data centers. The quantum data center that Cisco envisions would have the capability to execute numerous quantum circuits, feature dynamic network interconnection, and utilize various entanglement generation protocols. The idea is to build a network connecting a large number of smaller processors in a controlled environment, the data center warehouse, and provide them as a service to a larger user base, according to Cisco. The challenges for quantum data center network fabric

Zyxel launches 100GbE switch for enterprise networks

Port specifications include: 48 SFP28 ports supporting dual-rate 10GbE/25GbE connectivity 8 QSFP28 ports supporting 100GbE connections Console port for direct management access Layer 3 routing capabilities include static routing with support for access control lists (ACLs) and VLAN segmentation. The switch implements IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging, port isolation, and port mirroring for traffic analysis. For link aggregation, the switch supports IEEE 802.3ad for increased throughput and redundancy between switches or servers. Target applications and use cases The CX4800-56F targets multiple deployment scenarios where high-capacity backbone connectivity and flexible port configurations are required. “This will be for service providers initially or large deployments where they need a high capacity backbone to deliver a primarily 10G access layer to the end point,” explains Nguyen. “Now with Wi-Fi 7, more 10G/25G capable POE switches are being powered up and need interconnectivity without the bottleneck. We see this for data centers, campus, MDU (Multi-Dwelling Unit) buildings or community deployments.” Management is handled through Zyxel’s NebulaFlex Pro technology, which supports both standalone configuration and cloud management via the Nebula Control Center (NCC). The switch includes a one-year professional pack license providing IGMP technology and network analytics features. The SFP28 ports maintain backward compatibility between 10G and 25G standards, enabling phased migration paths for organizations transitioning between these speeds.

Engineers rush to master new skills for AI-driven data centers

According to the Uptime Institute survey, 57% of data centers are increasing salary spending. Data center job roles that saw the highest increases were in operations management – 49% of data center operators said they saw highest increases in this category – followed by junior and mid-level operations staff at 45%, and senior management and strategy at 35%. Other job categories that saw salary growth were electrical, at 32% and mechanical, at 23%. Organizations are also paying premiums on top of salaries for particular skills and certifications. Foote Partners tracks pay premiums for more than 1,300 certified and non-certified skills for IT jobs in general. The company doesn’t segment the data based on whether the jobs themselves are data center jobs, but it does track 60 skills and certifications related to data center management, including skills such as storage area networking, LAN, and AIOps, and 24 data center-related certificates from Cisco, Juniper, VMware and other organizations. “Five of the eight data center-related skills recording market value gains in cash pay premiums in the last twelve months are all AI-related skills,” says David Foote, chief analyst at Foote Partners. “In fact, they are all among the highest-paying skills for all 723 non-certified skills we report.” These skills bring in 16% to 22% of base salary, he says. AIOps, for example, saw an 11% increase in market value over the past year, now bringing in a premium of 20% over base salary, according to Foote data. MLOps now brings in a 22% premium. “Again, these AI skills have many uses of which the data center is only one,” Foote adds. The percentage increase in the specific subset of these skills in data centers jobs may vary. The Uptime Institute survey suggests that the higher pay is motivating workers to stay in the

ExtraHop looks to eliminate ‘extra hops’ in NDR stack

This deep visibility allows ExtraHop to provide insights across the entire network stack, from basic connectivity to application-level transactions. “The benefit of going all the way through Layer 7 is I can actually see a database transaction going through on the wire,” Vasani said. “If you have application teams complaining about database query latency, we can map it to what session was that tied to and what flows was it tied to from a network perspective and is this really an app server issue, or is it a network issue, or is it an endpoint issue?” The new sensor integrates with ExtraHop’s RevealX platform, feeding telemetry into the company’s cloud-scale ML/AI engine that powers its detection and analysis capabilities. “The sensor collects the telemetry, feeds it into an ML/AI engine that sits in the cloud, and then we layer in workflow engines on top to enable the various use cases,” Vasani said. In modern distributed enterprise environments, network visibility must extend beyond traditional data centers. ExtraHop’s all-in-one sensor is designed to address this reality with deployment options that span physical appliances, virtual machines and cloud environments. ExtraHop has both virtual and physical hardware appliances for sensor deployment. ExtraHop sensors can plug into a network through multiple methods including, Network Tap, SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer) port, packet broker or a cloud provider’s vTAP capabilities.

AI’s energy appetite drives interest in nuclear power

In its new report, Deloitte said that its analysis of figures from the World Nuclear Association, the American Nuclear Society, the U.S. Department of Energy, and others showed that new nuclear power could potentially meet about 10% of the projected increase in data center demand over the next decade, assuming capacity is also significantly expanded by between 35GW and 62GW, and 30% of the expansion is earmarked for data centers. “Nuclear energy presents a potential solution for meeting some of the growing electricity demands of data centers, with its reliable and clean energy profile,” Deloitte’s report said, noting five key advantages of the technology: Reliable baseload power: Nuclear reactors operate 24/7, regardless of the weather, providing the reliable power so important to data centers. In addition, Deloitte said, “Their capacity factor, exceeding 92.5%, outperforms other sources like natural gas (56%) and renewables like wind (35%) and solar (25%).” High energy density: A small amount of fuel generates a lot of power, which minimizes the need for fuel storage and transportation. “This efficiency can translate to a smaller physical footprint and enhanced sustainability,” Deloitte said. Scalable power output: A full-sized reactor typically generates 800 megawatts (MW) or more of electricity, which accommodates the needs of large data centers. Low carbon emissions: Nuclear power plants produce virtually no greenhouse gas emissions during operation. Enhanced land use efficiency: Compared to other energy sources, nuclear power plants require relatively little land. Gartner’s Johnson echoed these advantages, and also predicted that nuclear energy, and small modular reactors (SMRs) in particular, will “provide a viable answer” to the question of what to do when electricity demand exceeds supply. They can, he said, “ensure independence from grid power fluctuations by providing dedicated on-site power for large data centers.” However, both Gartner and Deloitte also highlighted challenges in

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.

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

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

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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