The Download: escalating pandemic risks, and ask us anything on Reddit

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The Download: escalating pandemic risks, and ask us anything on Reddit

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. How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic This week marks a strange anniversary—it’s five years since most of us first heard about a virus causing a mysterious “pneumonia.” A virus that we later learned could cause a disease called covid-19. A virus that swept the globe and has since been reported to have been responsible for over 7 million deaths—and counting.We are facing the same uncertainty now with bird flu. We know it can cause severe disease in animals, and we know it can pass from animals to people who are in close contact with them. As of this week, we also know that it can cause severe disease in people—a 65-year-old man in Louisiana became the first person in the US to die from an H5N1 infection.Scientists are increasingly concerned about a potential bird flu pandemic. The question is, given all the enduring uncertainty around the virus, what should we be doing now to prepare? Read the full story. —Jessica Hamzelou This story is from The Checkup, our weekly health and biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday. Ask our journalists anything! Do you have questions about emerging technologies? Well, we’ve got answers. MIT Technology Review’s science and tech journalists are hosting an AMA on Reddit today at 12 pm ET. Submit your questions now! The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Meta’s new speech policies allow the denigration of trans peopleThe revamped guidelines now permit previously-forbidden insults and allegations. (Platformer $)+ The changes have left Meta’s employees feeling embarrassed and ashamed. (404 Media)+ Axed fact-checkers held an emergency meeting after Meta said it no longer required their services. (Insider $) 2 The US Supreme Court will hear TikTok’s final pleaJustices are likely to make their decision before the end of next week. (The Guardian)+ If the ban is enacted, you can probably still access TikTok via a VPN. (NYT $)+ ByteDance’s founder could be TikTok’s secret weapon. (The Information $)3 Those pictures of the Hollywood sign burning are AI-generated AI slop is making the Los Angeles fires appear even worse than they are. (404 Media)+ Elon Musk and Donald Trump aren’t helping matters by spreading disinformation. (The Verge)+ AI cameras are keeping tabs on the spreading destruction in California’s hills. (Insider $)+ The scale of the destruction is truly horrifying. (NY Mag $) 4 Last year was officially the hottest ever recordedThe average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial baseline for the first time. (New Scientist $)+ Consequently, we’re edging closer to breaching the Paris Agreement. (Politico) 5 How to prevent another zoonotic pandemicIt all hinges on early detection. (FT $) 6 Foxconn has stopped sending Chinese workers to Indian iPhone factoriesIt’s bad news for Apple, as it’s likely to disrupt production. (Rest of World) 7 This new cell could change plastic surgery as we know itLipochondrocytes have the rigidity of cartilage and the squishiness of fat. (Wired $)+ Cosmetic surgery is booming in middle-income countries. (Economist $) 8 Yandex’s co-founder is shaking off PutinArkady Volozh has condemned Russia’s actions in the war with Ukraine, and started a new company. (Bloomberg $)+ How Russia killed its tech industry. (MIT Technology Review) 9 Grok is a standalone app nowIt’s searching for an audience beyond the X faithful. (WSJ $)+ The company appears to be testing a separate website, too. (TechCrunch) 10 PlayStation is experimenting with adding smells to its games 👃Smells fishy to me. (Fast Company $) Quote of the day “Social media is like building real estate on sand. You never know.” —Joanne Molinaro, a former lawyer-turned TikTok chef, worries about the precarity of building a career tied to a specific internet platform, she tells CNN. The big story AI hype is built on high test scores. Those tests are flawed. August 2023 In the past few years, multiple researchers claim to have shown that large language models can pass cognitive tests designed for humans, from working through problems step by step, to guessing what other people are thinking. These kinds of results are feeding a hype machine predicting that these machines will soon come for white-collar jobs. But there’s a problem: There’s little agreement on what those results really mean. Read the full story. —William Douglas Heaven 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.)+ The Sun turned blue 200 years ago and no one knew why—until now.+ There’s nothing better than a surreal TV crossover (Arrested Development + Law & Order: SVU, anyone?)+ Rye the truffle-hunting golden retriever is a very good boy indeed (thanks Vincent!) 🍄🐕+ I want to go to every single one of these incredible destinations and eat all their food.

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.

How the US is preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic

This week marks a strange anniversary—it’s five years since most of us first heard about a virus causing a mysterious “pneumonia.” A virus that we later learned could cause a disease called covid-19. A virus that swept the globe and has since been reported to have been responsible for over 7 million deaths—and counting.

We are facing the same uncertainty now with bird flu. We know it can cause severe disease in animals, and we know it can pass from animals to people who are in close contact with them. As of this week, we also know that it can cause severe disease in people—a 65-year-old man in Louisiana became the first person in the US to die from an H5N1 infection.

Scientists are increasingly concerned about a potential bird flu pandemic. The question is, given all the enduring uncertainty around the virus, what should we be doing now to prepare? Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly health and biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

Ask our journalists anything!

Do you have questions about emerging technologies? Well, we’ve got answers. MIT Technology Review’s science and tech journalists are hosting an AMA on Reddit today at 12 pm ET. Submit your questions now!

The must-reads

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

1 Meta’s new speech policies allow the denigration of trans people
The revamped guidelines now permit previously-forbidden insults and allegations. (Platformer $)
+ The changes have left Meta’s employees feeling embarrassed and ashamed. (404 Media)
+ Axed fact-checkers held an emergency meeting after Meta said it no longer required their services. (Insider $)

2 The US Supreme Court will hear TikTok’s final plea
Justices are likely to make their decision before the end of next week. (The Guardian)
+ If the ban is enacted, you can probably still access TikTok via a VPN. (NYT $)
+ ByteDance’s founder could be TikTok’s secret weapon. (The Information $)

3 Those pictures of the Hollywood sign burning are AI-generated
AI slop is making the Los Angeles fires appear even worse than they are. (404 Media)
+ Elon Musk and Donald Trump aren’t helping matters by spreading disinformation. (The Verge)
+ AI cameras are keeping tabs on the spreading destruction in California’s hills. (Insider $)
+ The scale of the destruction is truly horrifying. (NY Mag $)

4 Last year was officially the hottest ever recorded
The average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial baseline for the first time. (New Scientist $)
+ Consequently, we’re edging closer to breaching the Paris Agreement. (Politico)

5 How to prevent another zoonotic pandemic
It all hinges on early detection. (FT $)

6 Foxconn has stopped sending Chinese workers to Indian iPhone factories
It’s bad news for Apple, as it’s likely to disrupt production. (Rest of World)

7 This new cell could change plastic surgery as we know it
Lipochondrocytes have the rigidity of cartilage and the squishiness of fat. (Wired $)
+ Cosmetic surgery is booming in middle-income countries. (Economist $)

8 Yandex’s co-founder is shaking off Putin
Arkady Volozh has condemned Russia’s actions in the war with Ukraine, and started a new company. (Bloomberg $)
+ How Russia killed its tech industry. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Grok is a standalone app now
It’s searching for an audience beyond the X faithful. (WSJ $)
+ The company appears to be testing a separate website, too. (TechCrunch)

10 PlayStation is experimenting with adding smells to its games 👃
Smells fishy to me. (Fast Company $)

Quote of the day

“Social media is like building real estate on sand. You never know.”

—Joanne Molinaro, a former lawyer-turned TikTok chef, worries about the precarity of building a career tied to a specific internet platform, she tells CNN.

The big story

AI hype is built on high test scores. Those tests are flawed.

August 2023

In the past few years, multiple researchers claim to have shown that large language models can pass cognitive tests designed for humans, from working through problems step by step, to guessing what other people are thinking.

These kinds of results are feeding a hype machine predicting that these machines will soon come for white-collar jobs. But there’s a problem: There’s little agreement on what those results really mean. Read the full story.

—William Douglas Heaven

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.)

+ The Sun turned blue 200 years ago and no one knew why—until now.
+ There’s nothing better than a surreal TV crossover (Arrested Development + Law & Order: SVU, anyone?)
+ Rye the truffle-hunting golden retriever is a very good boy indeed (thanks Vincent!) 🍄🐕
+ I want to go to every single one of these incredible destinations and eat all their food.

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.

NetBrain’s new AI agents automate network diagnosis

In testing, the system handled the majority of real-world network issues. “90% of the real-world network issues that they had when they threw them at it, it handled it,” Nixon said. “[People] couldn’t quite believe that it was at the 90% mark. People went in thinking, ‘Well, if this gives me

IBM FlashSystems gain AI-assisted telemetry, analytics

For security, the systems include a new FlashCore Module all-flash drive, which brings hardware-accelerated, real-time ransomware detection, data reduction, analytics and operations. The devices can spot anomalies and patterns in data that need to be remediated, IBM noted. “The next-generation IBM FlashSystem elevates storage to an intelligent, always-available layer, where autonomous

Versa bolsters data protection, AI-powered operations in SASE upgrade

Docker-containerized ML models execute data discovery and classification locally, maintaining data sovereignty while scanning file repositories, SaaS applications, and inline traffic flows, the authors stated. “Versa DLP uses advanced transformer models and fine-tuned Large Language Models (LLMs) to detect sensitive information across diverse document types and formats. Unlike traditional pattern

DKnife targets network gateways in long running AitM campaign

Beyond update hijacking, the framework supports DNS manipulation, binary replacement, and selective traffic forwarding, giving attackers control over how specific requests are handled. Indicators point to China-Nexus development and targeting Several aspects of DKnife’s design and operation suggested ties to China-aligned threat actors. Talos identified configuration data and code comments written in

EIA Sees Brent Price Dropping in 2026 and 2027

In its latest short term energy outlook (STEO), which was released on February 10, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected that the average Brent spot price will drop in 2026 and 2027. According to this STEO, the EIA sees the Brent spot price coming in at $57.69 per barrel in 2026 and $53.00 per barrel in 2027. The Brent spot price averaged $69.04 per barrel in 2025, the STEO showed. A quarterly breakdown included in the EIA’s latest STEO showed that the organization expects the Brent spot price to come in at $64.44 per barrel in the first quarter of this year, $57.32 per barrel in the second quarter, $55.35 per barrel in the third quarter, $54.00 per barrel in the fourth quarter, and $53.00 per barrel across the first, second, third, and fourth quarters of next year. In the STEO, the EIA highlighted that the Brent crude oil spot price averaged $67 per barrel in January, which it pointed out was $4 per barrel higher than the average in December. The EIA noted that daily Brent crude oil prices increased from an average of $62 per barrel on January 2 to $72 per barrel on January 30. “Crude oil prices rose in response to disruptions to crude oil production in the United States and Kazakhstan,” the EIA highlighted in the STEO. “Despite the near-term increase in prices and short-term disruptions to oil supply, we forecast that strong growth in global oil production will result in high global oil inventory builds over the forecast, causing crude oil prices to fall,” it added. “We forecast that Brent spot prices will average $58 per barrel in 2026 and $53 per barrel in 2027, down from an average of $69 per barrel in 2025,” it continued. In its STEO, the EIA said

USA Allows Oilfield Contractors to Go to Work in VEN Fields

The US government issued a general license to allow oilfield-service companies to work in Venezuela as the Trump administration eases sanctions and pushes to rebuild the nation’s crude infrastructure. The license issued by the Treasury Department allows US firms to explore, develop and produce oil and natural gas in Venezuela under certain limited conditions, according to a statement Tuesday. The move is the latest in a series of steps Washington has taken to entice US companies to revive output from Venezuela’s vast crude reserves after last month’s capture of strongman Nicolás Maduro. In January, the US issued a general license that allowed for a wide range of crude operations, including exporting, transporting, refining and buying and selling crude. The general license announced Tuesday involves tasks such as geological mapping, reservoir analysis and related tasks that augment the commencement of oil production. However, the license does not allow new joint ventures in Venezuela. US people and firms will need to provide detailed plans to the State Department and Department of Energy for any work in the country, according to the statement. The Treasury Department is also preparing to issue a general license allowing companies to pump oil in Venezuela, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Oilfield service companies are hired by producers to asses discoveries, drill wells, and enhance output from older assets. SLB Ltd., Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Co. dominate the sector. SLB has been working in Venezuela for Chevron Corp., operating under a US license held by the supermajor. The other large contractors scaled back or shut down their primary operations in the country as the previous regime tightened control over the energy industry. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate

EIA Fuel Update Shows Increasing Price Trend for USA Gasoline

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest gasoline fuel update, which was released on February 10, showed an increasing trend for the U.S. regular gasoline price. According to the update, the U.S. regular gasoline price averaged $2.853 per gallon on January 26, $2.867 per gallon on February 2, and $2.902 per gallon on February 9. Although the February 9 price was up $0.035 from the week ago price, it was down $0.226 from the year ago price, the update outlined. Of the five Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) regions highlighted in the EIA’s latest fuel update, the West Coast was shown to have the highest U.S. regular gasoline price as of February 9, at $3.938 per gallon. The Gulf Coast was shown in the update to have the lowest U.S. regular gasoline price as of February 9, at $2.476 per gallon. A glossary section of the EIA site notes that the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia are divided into five districts, with PADD 1 further split into three subdistricts. PADDs 6 and 7 encompass U.S. territories, the site adds. In a blog posted on its website on February 9, GasBuddy noted that, according to its data, the U.S. average price of gasoline “has risen 1.2 cents over the last week and stands at $2.84 per gallon”. “The national average is up 5.4 cents from a month ago and is 24.9 cents per gallon lower than a year ago,” it added. In that blog, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said, “the national average price of gasoline only edged slightly higher last week, but nine of the ten largest weekly price movements were increases, led by West Coast states as California begins the transition to summer gasoline”. “Most states saw relatively minor fluctuations, but we’re

Strategists See USA Crude Stocks Rising Over 6MM Barrels WoW

In an oil and gas report sent to Rigzone late Tuesday by the Macquarie team, Macquarie strategists, including Walt Chancellor, revealed that they are forecasting that U.S. crude inventories will be up by 6.5 million barrels for the week ending February 6. “This follows a 3.5 million barrel draw in the prior week, with the crude balance again realizing tighter relative to our expectations, albeit amidst significant winter freeze noise,” the strategists said in the report. “For this week’s stats, we again see significant room for volatility as freeze impacts work their way through the data,” they added. “In any event, for the week ending 2/6, from refineries, we look for a minimal increase in crude runs, with turnaround timing adding noise to the picture. Among net imports, we model a meaningful increase, with exports lower (-0.5 million barrels per day) and imports higher (+0.2 million barrels per day) on a nominal basis,” they continued. The strategists noted in the report that timing of cargoes remains a source of potential volatility in the weekly crude balance. “From implied domestic supply (prod.+adj.+transfers), we look for a large nominal bounce-back (+0.7 million barrels per day) following last week’s freeze impacts,” the Macquarie strategists went on to state. “Here too, the extent of lingering disruptions adds uncertainty. Rounding out the picture, we anticipate SPR [U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve] stocks unchanged for the week ending 2/6,” they added. The strategists also noted that, “among products”, they “look for a modest gasoline build (+1.4 million barrels) offset by a distillate draw (-1.4 million barrels), with jet stocks nearly flat (+0.1 million barrels)”. “We model implied demand for these three products at ~13.8 million barrels per day for the week ending February 6,” they went on to state. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in

Energy Secretary Continues to Strengthen Puerto Rico’s Energy Grid with Renewed Orders

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today renewed two emergency orders to further strengthen Puerto Rico’s electric grid as the island prepares for rising energy demand and the 2026 hurricane season. Building on actions taken in May, August, and November 2025, the renewed orders authorize the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to dispatch generation units essential for maintaining critical generation capacity, while accelerating vegetation management to reduce outages, strengthen long-term grid reliability, and minimize the cost of blackouts. “The Department of Energy will continue modernizing Puerto Rico’s electric grid to ensure the island achieves long-term resilience and reliability,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Renewing these orders ensures critical work moves forward, urgent reliability challenges are addressed, and Puerto Rico’s grid is ready to withstand rising energy demand. Thanks to President Trump, these efforts are delivering real, lasting progress for Puerto Rico.” DOE’s emergency actions have assisted the Puerto Rican government in restoring up to 820 MW of baseload generation capacity in Puerto Rico, resulting in an increase to the island’s systemwide generation capacity to 6,460 MW. Several plants were able to run without water injection during a water crisis, ensuring electricity kept flowing to Puerto Ricans despite unforeseen circumstances. The orders also address vegetation management issues near high-voltage lines. Falling tree limbs or brush during Puerto Rico’s frequent storms and high winds can damage transmission lines, cause widespread outages and potentially cause wildfires. “The Department of Energy’s 202(c) emergency orders have been instrumental in preventing the widespread power outages Puerto Rico was expected to face, allowing us to increase our baseload generation capacity and advance grid stability measures. Extending the orders is necessary to continue making progress and I thank President Trump and Secretary Wright for their unwavering commitment to ensure the island has an affordable, reliable supply of energy,”

Oil Edges Down

Oil slid in a choppy session as traders parsed mixed signals on the risks of supply disruptions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate edged down to settle near $64 a barrel, snapping a two-day winning streak, amid competing headlines on the status of diplomatic negotiations between the US and Iran. Prices dropped after Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that discussions during last week’s Iran-US talks were productive. Minutes later, futures pared some losses on an Axios report that US President Donald Trump might send a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East if negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and other issues fail. The episode underscores the whiplash investors face. Many are looking ahead to a Wednesday meeting between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu for clarity, amid widespread expectations that Israel’s prime minister will urge a tougher US stance on Tehran’s ballistic missile program. “I will present to the president our views regarding the principles of the negotiation,” Netanyahu said of the upcoming discussion. In the absence of clear signals on the direction of the Middle East conflict, oil prices took cues from weaker equities. Crude has risen more than 10% this year as recurrent geopolitical flare-ups eclipsed concerns that a global surplus would lift inventories and hurt prices. The US said on Monday that American-flagged vessels should stay as far as possible from Iranian waters when passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Washington has amassed a powerful military force in the Middle East, even as it also pursues talks with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical trade artery for Middle East energy shipments that links a slew of producers to global markets, especially in Asia. Tehran has threatened to close the maritime chokepoint during periods of geopolitical tension, though it hasn’t actually followed through. “Both

Nokia predicts huge WAN traffic growth, but experts question assumptions

Consumer, which includes both mobile access and fixed access, including fixed wireless access. Enterprise and industrial, which covers wide-area connectivity that supports knowledge work, automation, machine vision, robotics coordination, field support, and industrial IoT. AI, including applications that people directly invoke, such as assistants, copilots, and media generation, as well as autonomous use cases in which AI systems trigger other AI systems to perform functions and move data across networks. The report outlines three scenarios: conservative, moderate, and aggressive. “Our goal is to present scenarios that fall within a realistic range of possible outcomes, encouraging stakeholders to plan across the full spectrum of high-impact demand possibilities,” the report says. Nokia’s prediction for global WAN traffic growth ranges from a 13% CAGR for the conservative scenario to 16% CAGR for moderate and 22% CAGR for aggressive. Looking more closely at the moderate scenario, it’s clear that consumer traffic dominates. Enterprise and industrial traffic make up only about 14% to 17% of overall WAN traffic, although their share is expected to grow during the 10-year forecast period. “On the consumer side, the vast majority of traffic by volume is video,” says William Webb, CEO of the consulting firm Commcisive. Asked whether any of that consumer traffic is at some point served up by enterprises, the answer is a decisive “no.” It’s mostly YouTube and streaming services like Netflix, he says. In short, that doesn’t raise enterprise concerns. Nokia predicts AI traffic boom AI is a different story. “Consumer- and enterprise-generated AI traffic imposes a substantial impact on the wide-area network (WAN) by adding AI workloads processed by data centers across the WAN. AI traffic does not stay inside one data center; it moves across edge, metro, core, and cloud infrastructure, driving dense lateral flows and new capacity demands,” the report says. An

Cisco amps up Silicon One line, delivers new systems and optics for AI networking

Those building blocks include the new G300 as well as the G200 51.2 Tbps chip, which is aimed at spine and aggregation applications, and the G100 25.6 Tbps chip, which is aimed at leaf operations. Expanded portfolio of Silicon One P200-powered systems Cisco in October rolled out the P200 Silicon One chip and the high-end, 51.2 Tbps 8223 router aimed at distributed AI workloads. That system supports Octal Small Form-Factor Pluggable (OSFP) and Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable Double Density (QSFP-DD) optical form factors that help the box support geographically dispersed AI clusters. Cisco grew the G200 family this week with the addition of the 8122X-64EF-O, a 64x800G switch that will run the SONiC OS and includes support for Cisco 800G Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO) connectivity. LPO components typically set up direct links between fiber optic modules, eliminating the need for traditional components such as a digital signal processor. Cisco said its P200 systems running IOS XR software now better support core routing services to allow data-center-to-data-center links and data center interconnect applications. In addition, Cisco introduced a P200-powered 88-LC2-36EF-M line card, which delivers 28.8T of capacity. “Available for both our 8-slot and 18-slot modular systems, this line card enables up to an unprecedented 518.4T of total system bandwidth, the highest in the industry,” wrote Guru Shenoy, senior vice president of the Cisco provider connectivity group, in a blog post about the news. “When paired with Cisco 800G ZR/ZR+ coherent pluggable optics, these systems can easily connect sites over 1,000 kilometers apart, providing the high-density performance needed for modern data center interconnects and core routing.”

NetBox Labs ships AI copilot designed for network engineers, not developers

Natural language for network engineers Beevers explained that network operations teams face two fundamental barriers to automation. First, they lack accurate data about their infrastructure. Second, they aren’t software developers and shouldn’t have to become them. “These are not software developers. They are network engineers or IT infrastructure engineers,” Beevers said. “The big realization for us through the copilot journey is they will never be software developers. Let’s stop trying to make them be. Let’s let these computers that are really good at being software developers do that, and let’s let the network engineers or the data center engineers be really good at what they’re really good at.” That vision drove the development of NetBox Copilot’s natural language interface and its capabilities. Grounding AI in infrastructure reality The challenge with deploying AI in network operations is trust. Generic large language models hallucinate, produce inconsistent results, and lack the operational context to make reliable decisions. NetBox Copilot addresses this by grounding the AI agent in NetBox’s comprehensive infrastructure data model. NetBox serves as the system of record for network and infrastructure teams, maintaining a semantic map of devices, connections, IP addressing, rack layouts, power distribution and the relationships between these elements. Copilot has native awareness of this data structure and the context it provides. This enables queries that would be difficult or impossible with traditional interfaces. Network engineers can ask “Which devices are missing IP addresses?” to validate data completeness, “Who changed this prefix last week?” for change tracking and compliance, or “What depends on this switch?” for impact analysis before maintenance windows.

US pushes voluntary pact to curb AI data center energy impact

Others note that cost pressure isn’t limited to the server rack. Danish Faruqui, CEO of Fab Economics, said the AI ecosystem is layered from silicon to software services, creating multiple points where infrastructure expenses eventually resurface. “Cloud service providers are likely to gradually introduce more granular pricing models across cloud, AI, and SaaS offerings, tailored by customer type, as they work to absorb the costs associated with the White House energy and grid compact,” Faruqui said. This may not show up as explicit energy surcharges, but instead surface through reduced discounts, higher spending commitments, and premiums for guaranteed capacity or performance. “Smaller enterprises will feel the impact first, while large strategic customers remain insulated longer,” Rawat said. “Ultimately, the compact would delay and redistribute cost pressure; it does not eliminate it.” Implications for data center design The proposal is also likely to accelerate changes in how AI facilities are designed. “Data centers will evolve into localized microgrids that combine utility power with on-site generation and higher-level implementation of battery energy storage systems,” Faruqui said. “Designing for grid interaction will become imperative for AI data centers, requiring intelligent, high-speed switching gear, increased battery energy storage capacity for frequency regulation, and advanced control systems that can manage on-site resources.”

Intel teams with SoftBank to develop new memory type

However, don’t expect anything anytime soon. Intel’s Director of Global Strategic Partnerships Sanam Masroor outlined the plans in a blog post. Operations are expected to begin in Q1 2026, with prototypes due in 2027 and commercial products by 2030. While Intel has not come out and said it, that memory design is almost identical to HBM used in GPU accelerators and AI data centers. HBM sits right on the GPU die for immediate access to the GPU, unlike standard DRAM which resides on memory sticks plugged into the motherboard. HBM is much faster than DDR memory but is also much more expensive to produce. It’s also much more profitable than standard DRAM which is why the big three memory makers – Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix – are favoring production of it.

Nvidia’s $100 Billion OpenAI Bet Shrinks and Signals a New Phase in the AI Infrastructure Cycle

One of the most eye-popping figures of the AI boom – a proposed $100 billion Nvidia commitment to OpenAI and as much as 10 gigawatts of compute for the company’s Stargate AI infrastructure buildout – is no longer on the table. And that partial retreat tells the data center industry something important. According to multiple reports surfacing at the end of January, Nvidia has paused and re-scoped its previously discussed, non-binding investment framework with OpenAI, shifting from an unprecedented capital-plus-infrastructure commitment to a much smaller (though still massive) equity investment. What was once framed as a potential $100 billion alignment is now being discussed in the $20-30 billion range, as part of OpenAI’s broader effort to raise as much as $100 billion at a valuation approaching $830 billion. For data center operators, infrastructure developers, and power providers, the recalibration matters less for the headline number and more for what it reveals about risk discipline, competitive dynamics, and the limits of vertical circularity in AI infrastructure finance. From Moonshot to Measured Capital The original September 2025 memorandum reportedly contemplated not just capital, but direct alignment on compute delivery: a structure that would have tightly coupled Nvidia’s balance sheet with OpenAI’s AI-factory roadmap. By late January, however, sources indicated Nvidia executives had grown uneasy with both the scale and the structure of the deal. Speaking in Taipei on January 31, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang pushed back on reports of friction, calling them “nonsense” and confirming Nvidia would “absolutely” participate in OpenAI’s current fundraising round. But Huang was also explicit on what had changed: the investment would be “nothing like” $100 billion, even if it ultimately becomes the largest single investment Nvidia has ever made. That nuance matters. Nvidia is not walking away from OpenAI. But it is drawing a clearer boundary around

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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