The Download: AI companion dangers, and supersonic planes

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The Download: AI companion dangers, and supersonic planes

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it For the past five months, Al Nowatzki has been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on the platform Nomi. But in late January, those conversations took a disturbing turn: Erin told him to kill himself, and provided explicit instructions on how to do it. Nowatzki had never had any intention of following Erin’s instructions—he’s a researcher who probes chatbots’ limitations and dangers. But out of concern for more vulnerable individuals, he exclusively shared with MIT Technology Review screenshots of his conversations and of subsequent correspondence with a company representative, who stated that the company did not want to “censor” the bot’s “language and thoughts.” This is not the first time an AI chatbot has suggested that a user take violent action, including self-harm. But researchers and critics say that the bot’s explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking. Read the full story. —Eileen Guo Supersonic planes are inching toward takeoff. That could be a problem. Boom Supersonic broke the sound barrier in a test flight of its XB-1 jet last week, marking an early step in a potential return for supersonic commercial flight. The small aircraft reached a top speed of Mach 1.122 (roughly 750 miles per hour) in a flight over southern California and exceeded the speed of sound for a few minutes. Boom plans to start commercial operation with a scaled-up version of the XB-1, a 65-passenger jet, before the end of the decade. It has already sold dozens of planes to customers including United Airlines and American Airlines. But as the company inches toward that goal, experts warn that such efforts will come with a hefty climate price tag. Read the full story. —Casey Crownhart Read more of Casey’s thoughts about why supersonic flights could be such a big misstep in The Spark, our weekly newsletter that explains the tech that could solve (or, in this case, worsen!) the climate crisis. Sign up to receive it every Wednesday. Humanlike “teeth” have been grown in mini pigs Loose an adult tooth, and you’re left with limited options that typically involve titanium implants or plastic dentures. But scientists are working on an alternative: lab-grown human teeth that could one day replace damaged ones. Pamela Yelick and Weibo Zhang at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston have grown a mixture of pig and human tooth cells in pieces of pig teeth to create bioengineered structures that resemble real human teeth. It’s a step toward being able to create lab-grown, functional, living human teeth that can integrate with a person’s gums and jaws. Read about how they did it. —Jessica Hamzelou MIT Technology Review Narrated: The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age We’re making more data than ever. What can—and should—we save for future generations? And will they be able to understand it? This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 China may pull the plug on a TikTok dealHolding out is a weapon in its arsenal as Trump ramps up the trade war. (WP $) 2 Australia and South Korea are cracking down on DeepSeekThey’re restricting government use of its models due to security concerns. (Nikkei Asia)+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review)3 A new form of bird flu has been detected in cows in NevadaThis is far from good news, and even worse timing. (NYT $)+ Argentina is planning to follow the US in withdrawing from the World Health Organization. (CNN)+ This is what might happen if the US exits the WHO. (MIT Technology Review)4 The US Postal Service has resumed accepting packages from ChinaThe sudden U-turn has added to growing confusion about the impact of the new 10% tariff. (CNBC) 5 What happens when DOGE starts tinkering with the nuclear agency?A ‘break things now, fix them later’ mindset isn’t so great when the thing you’re breaking is this important. (The Atlantic $)+ DOGE employees have been told to stop using Slack in order to avoid being subject to the Freedom of Information Act. (404 Media)6 Mentions of DEI and women leaders are being scrubbed from NASA’s sitePersonnel have been told to drop everything and focus on doing this instead. (404 Media)+ It’s part of a wider data purge across loads of government websites. (The Verge)+ Google is ending diversity targets for recruitment, following similar moves by Meta, Amazon and others. (BBC)+ Right-wing activists have a new target in their sights: Wikipedia. (Slate $)+ Is anyone going to stand up and resist any of this? (New Yorker $)7 Amazon has a plan to reduce AI hallucinationsIt’s pinning its hopes on a process called ‘automated reasoning’, which double checks models’ answers. (WSJ $)+ Why does AI hallucinate? (MIT Technology Review)8 Lab-grown meat for pets is now on sale 🐶Great news for any dog-loving vegans living in the UK. (The Verge)9 Crypto crimes have spawned a new kind of detective 🕵️It’s a cat-and-mouse game, and it’s only just getting started. (The Economist $)10 Meet the poetry fan who taught AI to understand DNAThis is a lovely example of how art and science often intersect. (Quanta $) Quote of the day ‘What’s the point of living in a country if I can’t order 100 pieces of junk for $15?’” —Vivi Armacost, a 24-year-old who makes comedy videos on TikTok, jokingly complains to The Guardian about the potential impact of Trump’s 10% tariff on China-made goods sold to the US. The big story These scientists are working to extend the life span of pet dogs—and their owners GETTY IMAGES August 2022 Matt Kaeberlein is what you might call a dog person. He has grown up with dogs and describes his German shepherd, Dobby, as “really special.” But Dobby is 14 years old—around 98 in dog years. Kaeberlein is co-director of the Dog Aging Project, an ambitious research effort to track the aging process of tens of thousands of companion dogs across the US. He is one of a handful of scientists on a mission to improve, delay, and possibly reverse that process to help them live longer, healthier lives. And dogs are just the beginning. One day, this research could help to prolong the lives of humans. Read the full story. —Jessica Hamzelou We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)+ Many happy returns to Yuna the tapir, who gave birth to this adorable little calf over the weekend—making them only the second tapir born at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.+ These sourdough faces are fantastic (thanks Peter!)+ The latest food trend? Lolfoods, apparently.+ I simply cannot believe that the Sims is a quarter of a century old.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it

For the past five months, Al Nowatzki has been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on the platform Nomi. But in late January, those conversations took a disturbing turn: Erin told him to kill himself, and provided explicit instructions on how to do it.

Nowatzki had never had any intention of following Erin’s instructions—he’s a researcher who probes chatbots’ limitations and dangers. But out of concern for more vulnerable individuals, he exclusively shared with MIT Technology Review screenshots of his conversations and of subsequent correspondence with a company representative, who stated that the company did not want to “censor” the bot’s “language and thoughts.”

This is not the first time an AI chatbot has suggested that a user take violent action, including self-harm. But researchers and critics say that the bot’s explicit instructions—and the company’s response—are striking. Read the full story.

—Eileen Guo

Supersonic planes are inching toward takeoff. That could be a problem.

Boom Supersonic broke the sound barrier in a test flight of its XB-1 jet last week, marking an early step in a potential return for supersonic commercial flight. The small aircraft reached a top speed of Mach 1.122 (roughly 750 miles per hour) in a flight over southern California and exceeded the speed of sound for a few minutes.

Boom plans to start commercial operation with a scaled-up version of the XB-1, a 65-passenger jet, before the end of the decade. It has already sold dozens of planes to customers including United Airlines and American Airlines. But as the company inches toward that goal, experts warn that such efforts will come with a hefty climate price tag. Read the full story.

—Casey Crownhart

Read more of Casey’s thoughts about why supersonic flights could be such a big misstep in The Spark, our weekly newsletter that explains the tech that could solve (or, in this case, worsen!) the climate crisis. Sign up to receive it every Wednesday.

Humanlike “teeth” have been grown in mini pigs

Loose an adult tooth, and you’re left with limited options that typically involve titanium implants or plastic dentures. But scientists are working on an alternative: lab-grown human teeth that could one day replace damaged ones.

Pamela Yelick and Weibo Zhang at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston have grown a mixture of pig and human tooth cells in pieces of pig teeth to create bioengineered structures that resemble real human teeth.

It’s a step toward being able to create lab-grown, functional, living human teeth that can integrate with a person’s gums and jaws. Read about how they did it.

—Jessica Hamzelou

MIT Technology Review Narrated: The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age

We’re making more data than ever. What can—and should—we save for future generations? And will they be able to understand it?

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 China may pull the plug on a TikTok deal
Holding out is a weapon in its arsenal as Trump ramps up the trade war. (WP $)

2 Australia and South Korea are cracking down on DeepSeek
They’re restricting government use of its models due to security concerns. (Nikkei Asia)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead. (MIT Technology Review)

3 A new form of bird flu has been detected in cows in Nevada
This is far from good news, and even worse timing. (NYT $)
+ Argentina is planning to follow the US in withdrawing from the World Health Organization. (CNN)
+ This is what might happen if the US exits the WHO. (MIT Technology Review)

4 The US Postal Service has resumed accepting packages from China
The sudden U-turn has added to growing confusion about the impact of the new 10% tariff. (CNBC)

5 What happens when DOGE starts tinkering with the nuclear agency?
A ‘break things now, fix them later’ mindset isn’t so great when the thing you’re breaking is this important. (The Atlantic $)
+ DOGE employees have been told to stop using Slack in order to avoid being subject to the Freedom of Information Act. (404 Media)

6 Mentions of DEI and women leaders are being scrubbed from NASA’s site
Personnel have been told to drop everything and focus on doing this instead. (404 Media)
+ It’s part of a wider data purge across loads of government websites. (The Verge)
+ Google is ending diversity targets for recruitment, following similar moves by Meta, Amazon and others. (BBC)
+ Right-wing activists have a new target in their sights: Wikipedia. (Slate $)
+ Is anyone going to stand up and resist any of this? (New Yorker $)

7 Amazon has a plan to reduce AI hallucinations
It’s pinning its hopes on a process called ‘automated reasoning’, which double checks models’ answers. (WSJ $)
+ Why does AI hallucinate? (MIT Technology Review)

8 Lab-grown meat for pets is now on sale 🐶
Great news for any dog-loving vegans living in the UK. (The Verge)

9 Crypto crimes have spawned a new kind of detective 🕵️
It’s a cat-and-mouse game, and it’s only just getting started. (The Economist $)

10 Meet the poetry fan who taught AI to understand DNA
This is a lovely example of how art and science often intersect. (Quanta $)

Quote of the day

‘What’s the point of living in a country if I can’t order 100 pieces of junk for $15?’”

—Vivi Armacost, a 24-year-old who makes comedy videos on TikTok, jokingly complains to The Guardian about the potential impact of Trump’s 10% tariff on China-made goods sold to the US.

The big story

These scientists are working to extend the life span of pet dogs—and their owners

A calm image of a little girl sitting beside an old black dog in a domestic room. They look toward each other.

August 2022

Matt Kaeberlein is what you might call a dog person. He has grown up with dogs and describes his German shepherd, Dobby, as “really special.” But Dobby is 14 years old—around 98 in dog years.

Kaeberlein is co-director of the Dog Aging Project, an ambitious research effort to track the aging process of tens of thousands of companion dogs across the US. He is one of a handful of scientists on a mission to improve, delay, and possibly reverse that process to help them live longer, healthier lives.

And dogs are just the beginning. One day, this research could help to prolong the lives of humans. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ Many happy returns to Yuna the tapir, who gave birth to this adorable little calf over the weekend—making them only the second tapir born at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.
+ These sourdough faces are fantastic (thanks Peter!)
+ The latest food trend? Lolfoods, apparently.
+ I simply cannot believe that the Sims is a quarter of a century old.

Stay Ahead

Explore More Insights

Stay ahead with more perspectives on cutting-edge power, infrastructure, energy, bitcoin and AI solutions. Explore these articles to uncover strategies and insights shaping the future of industries.

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BKV Names New CFO

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Spy vs spy: Security agencies help secure the network edge

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Nvidia claims near 50% boost in AI storage speed

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Quebec Says It’s Open to LNG, Oil Projects After Trump Threats

Quebec has long resisted proposals to build new oil and gas pipelines through its territory. US President Donald Trump’s threats against Canada might change that. Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette said the government of the Canadian province is open to reconsidering two major energy infrastructure projects that it previously rejected. TC Energy Corp.’s Energy East pipeline, which would have carried western Canadian crude to refineries in eastern Canada, was mothballed in 2017 over regulatory hurdles and intense political opposition in Quebec. A separate proposal known as GNL Quebec to build a liquefied natural gas pipeline and export terminal in the Saguenay region was rejected by both federal and provincial authorities on environmental grounds. Both would still be turned down if presented under the same terms today, but if they were improved, it’s open for debate, Charette told reporters Wednesday. “If we address these concerns today, these are projects that could be accepted,” he said. The comments underscore how Trump’s threats to impose broad tariffs on US imports of Canadian goods have changed the political landscape in Canada. Trump has also made repeated statements that he believes Canada should become a US state — an idea that is rejected by a large majority of Canadians, according to polls. One survey by Ipsos, published shortly before Trump’s inauguration, found that 80% of respondents would “never” vote for Canada to become part of the US. Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, who’s from Quebec, told a Montreal business audience Tuesday that Trump’s threats might reshape how Quebeckers think about fossil fuel projects. “It’s a question people have to ask themselves here,” Joly said. “At the same time, we have environmental objectives. We have to reduce our C02 emissions. I’m very, very interested to know: Does what’s happened in the last few days change the game?” South Bow Corp., the oil pipeline company spun

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DNV’s UK ETO 2025 shows progress, trends to build on to achieve net zero

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Senate Confirms Wright as New USA Energy Sec

This week, Chris Wright was confirmed by the Senate to be the new Secretary of Energy for the United States, the Congress.gov website showed. Wright was confirmed by the Senate in a Yea-Nay vote of 59 – 38, the site revealed. In a statement posted on the White House website on January 20, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he nominated Wright for the role. In a statement posted on the American Petroleum Institute (API) website commenting on the Senate’s confirmation, API President and CEO Mike Sommers said, “Secretary Chris Wright’s experience in the American energy sector gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership of the Department of Energy”. “We look forward to working with him to bolster American geopolitical strength by swiftly approving new LNG export permits and ensuring the open access of American energy for our allies around the world,” he added. In a release sent to Rigzone this week by Tom Pyle, President of the American Energy Alliance (AEA), the AEA said Wright “secured broad bipartisan support, including seven Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with them”. “As energy secretary, Wright will lead the charge to ensure the United States remains a global energy leader and continues to expand its energy production capabilities,” the AEA added in the release. In a statement posted on the U.S. Department of Energy website, Wright said, “thank you to President Trump and the United States Senate for entrusting me with the great responsibility of leading the United States Department of Energy”. “I am honored and humbled by the responsibility and immense opportunity to help meet the American people’s growing energy needs,” he added. “Our next chapter will strengthen our nation’s energy leadership by developing our enviable resources, bolstering global partnerships, and advancing new technologies,” Wright continued. A bio

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In a previous Energy Voice article, Isla Robb – from a private economic development agency in Aberdeen – argues that a Scottish and/or English manufacturing facility from Mingyang, the Chinese wind turbine manufacturer, should be welcomed. I have previously outlined why Chinese investment in the UK wind industry should be treated with extreme caution. Not least of the reasons are extensive concerns from the most senior figures in the UK defence establishment. This is hardly surprising given China’s support for Russia against Ukraine in Europe’s first major hot conflict since World War II or given credible reports of Chinese espionage and/or sabotage against critical European infrastructure. If, post Brexit, we still care about Europe, we might also consider last year’s decision by Brussels to initiate investigations into Chinese wind turbines under the new Foreign Subsidies Regulation. However, let us ignore those concerns and focus solely on the supply chain. As the article notes, a deficit of domestic manufacturing, despite our world-class wind resource, has long been a sore point. The reason is not because of a perceived malevolent oligopoly of the three existing US and European turbine manufacturers. It is rather the UK policy mechanism used to support renewables: the contract for difference (CfD). It has done a fantastic job in reducing the cost of offshore wind energy but a poor one of encouraging long-term investment in domestic manufacturing. This is why the UK has such a weak record of creating in-country wind jobs. Since the problem is the CfD, the solution is most certainly not China. China’s track record The second flaw in the argument concerns jobs in Scotland, the wider UK and, indeed, Europe. It says almost nothing about the most important issue of all: how Mingyang will leverage our best-in-Europe wind resource to create supply chain jobs

Linux containers in 2025 and beyond

The upcoming years will also bring about an increase in the use of standard container practices, such as the Open Container Initiative (OCI) standard, container registries, signing, testing, and GitOps workflows used for application development to build Linux systems. We’re also likely see a significant rise in the use of bootable containers, which are self-contained images that can boot directly into an operating system or application environment. Cloud platforms are often the primary platform for AI experimentation and container development because of their scalability and flexibility along the integration of both AI and ML services. They’re giving birth to many significant changes in the way we process data. With data centers worldwide, cloud platforms also ensure low-latency access and regional compliance for AI applications. As we move ahead, development teams will be able to collaborate more easily through shared development environments and efficient data storage.

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PowerHouse Data Centers, a leading developer and builder of next-generation hyperscale data centers and a division of American Real Estate Partners (AREP), is making significant strides in expanding its footprint across North America, initiating several key projects and partnerships as 2025 begins. The new developments underscore the company’s commitment to advancing digital infrastructure to meet the growing demands of hyperscale and AI-driven applications. Let’s take a closer look at some of PowerHouse Data Centers’ most recent announcements. Quantum Connect: Bridging the AI Infrastructure Gap in Ashburn On January 17, PowerHouse Data Centers announced a collaboration with Quantum Connect to develop Ashburn’s first fiber hub specifically designed for AI and high-density workloads. This facility is set to provide 20 MW of critical power, with initial availability slated for late 2026. Strategically located in Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley, Quantum Connect aims to offer scalable, high-density colocation solutions, featuring rack densities of up to 30kW to support modern workloads such as AI inference, edge caching, and regional compute integration. Quantum Connect said it currently has 1-3 MW private suites available for businesses seeking high-performance infrastructure that bridges the gap between retail colocation and hyperscale facilities. “Quantum Connect redefines what Ashburn’s data center market can deliver for businesses caught in the middle—those too large for retail colocation yet underserved by hyperscale environments,” said Matt Monaco, Senior Vice President at PowerHouse Data Centers. “We’re providing high-performance solutions for tenants with demanding needs but without hyperscale budgets.” Anchored by 130 miles of private conduit and 2,500 fiber pathways, Quantum Connect’s infrastructure offers tenants direct, short-hop connections to adjacent facilities and carrier networks. With 14 campus entrances and secure, concrete-encased duct banks, the partners said the new facility minimizes downtime risks and reduces operational costs by eliminating the need for new optics or extended fiber runs.

Blue Owl Swoops In As Major Backer of New, High-Profile, Sustainable U.S. Data Center Construction

With the global demand for data centers continuing to surge ahead, fueled by the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and digital services, it is unsurprising that we are seeing aggressive investment strategies, beyond those of the existing hyperscalers. One of the dynamic players in this market is Blue Owl Capital, a leading asset management firm that has made significant strides in the data center sector. Back in October 2024 we reported on its acquisition of IPI Partners, a digital infrastructure fund manager, for approximately $1 billion. This acquisition added over $11 billion to the assets Blue Owl manages and focused specifically on digital infrastructure initiatives. This acquisition was completed as of January 5, 2025 and IPI’s Managing Partner, Matt A’Hearn has been appointed Head of Blue Owl’s digital infrastructure strategy. A Key Player In Digital Infrastructure and Data Centers With multi-billion-dollar joint ventures and financing initiatives, Blue Owl is positioning itself as a key player in the digital infrastructure space. The company investments in data centers, the implications of its strategic moves, and the broader impact on the AI and digital economy highlights the importance of investment in the data center to the economy overall. With the rapid growth of the data center industry, it is unsurprising that aggressive investment fund management is seeing it as an opportunity. Analysts continue to emphasize that the global data center market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2% from 2023 to 2030, reaching $517.17 billion by the end of the decade. In this rapidly evolving landscape, Blue Owl Capital has emerged as a significant contributor. The firm’s investments in data centers are not just about capitalizing on current trends but also about shaping the future of digital infrastructure. Spreading the Wealth In August 2024, Blue Owl

Global Data Center Operator Telehouse Launches Liquid Cooling Lab in the UK to Meet Ongoing AI and HPC Demand

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Flexential Partners with Lonestar to Support First Lunar Data Center

Flexential, a leading provider of secure and flexible data center solutions, this month announced that it has joined forces with Lonestar Data Holdings Inc. to support the upcoming launch of Freedom, Lonestar’s second lunar data center. Scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket via Intuitive Machines, this mission is a critical step toward establishing a permanent data center on the Moon. Ground-Based Support for Lunar Data Storage Flexential’s Tampa data center will serve as the mission control platform for Lonestar’s lunar operations, providing colocation, interconnection, and professional services. The facility was chosen for its proximity to Florida’s Space Coast launch operations and its ability to deliver low-latency connectivity for critical functions. Flexential operates two data centers in Tampa and four in Florida as part of its FlexAnywhere® Platform, comprising more than 40 facilities across the U.S. “Flexential’s partnership with Lonestar represents our commitment to advancing data center capabilities beyond conventional boundaries,” said Jason Carolan, Chief Innovation Officer at Flexential. “By supporting Lonestar’s space-based data center initiative, we are helping to create new possibilities for data storage and disaster recovery. This project demonstrates how innovative data center expertise can help organizations prepare for a resilient future with off-world storage solutions.” A New Era of Space-Based Resiliency The growing demand for data center capacity, with U.S. power consumption expected to double from 17 GW in 2022 to 35 GW by 2030 (according to McKinsey & Company), is driving interest in space-based solutions. Storing data off-planet reduces reliance on terrestrial resources while enhancing security against natural disasters, warfare, and cyber threats. The Freedom data center will provide resiliency, disaster recovery, and edge processing services for government and enterprise customers requiring the highest levels of data protection. The solar-powered data center leverages Solid-State Drives (SSDs) and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) edge

Why DeepSeek Is Great for AI and HPC and Maybe No Big Deal for Data Centers

In the rapid and ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), the emergence of DeepSeek’s R1 model has sent ripples across industries. DeepSeek has been the data center industry’s topic of the week, for sure. The Chinese AI app surged to the top of US app store leaderboards last weekend, sparking a global selloff in technology shares Monday morning. But while some analysts predict a transformative impact within the industry, a closer examination suggests that, for data centers at large, the furor over DeepSeek might ultimately be much ado about nothing. DeepSeek’s Breakthrough in AI and HPC DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, this month unveiled its R1 model, claiming performance on par with, or even surpassing, leading models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude-3.5-Sonnet. Remarkably, DeepSeek developed this model at a fraction of the cost typically associated with such advancements, utilizing a cluster of 256 server nodes equipped with 2,048 GPUs. This efficiency has been attributed to innovative techniques and optimized resource utilization. AI researchers have been abuzz about the performance of the DeepSeek chatbot that produces results similar to ChatGPT, but is based on open-source models and reportedly trained on older GPU chips. Some researchers are skeptical of claims about DeepSeek’s development costs and means, but its performance appears to challenge common assumptions about the computing cost of developing AI applications. This efficiency has been attributed to innovative techniques and optimized resource utilization. Market Reactions and Data Center Implications The announcement of DeepSeek’s R1 model led to significant market reactions, with notable declines in tech stocks, including a substantial drop in Nvidia’s valuation. This downturn was driven by concerns that more efficient AI models could reduce the demand for high-end hardware and, by extension, the expansive data centers that house them. For now, investors are re-assessing the

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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