The Download: introducing: the Security issue

Stay Ahead, Stay ONMINE

The Download: introducing: the Security issue

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. Introducing: the Security issue It would be naïve to think we are going back to a world without AI. We’re not. But it’s only one of many urgent problems we need to address to build security and prosperity for coming generations.The latest print issue of our magazine is all about our attempts to make the world more secure. From missiles. From asteroids. From the unknown. From threats both existential and trivial. We’re also introducing three new columns in this issue, from some of our leading writers: The Algorithm, which covers AI; The Checkup, on biotech; and The Spark, on energy and climate. You’ll see these in future issues, and you can also subscribe online to get them in your inbox every week. Here’s a taster of what else you can expect from this edition: + President Trump has proposed building an antimissile “golden dome” around the United States. But do cinematic spectacles actually enhance national security? + How two UFO hunting brothers became the go-to experts on America’s “mystery drone” invasion.+ Both Taiwan’s citizens and external experts are worried that the protection afforded by its “silicon shield” is cracking. Read the full story. + How the humble pigeon paved the way for today’s advanced AI. Read the full story. + A group of Starlink terminal repair volunteers in Ukraine is keeping the country connected throughout the war. Read the full story. MIT Technology Review Narrated: Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming Agents are the talk of the AI industry—they’re capable of planning, reasoning, and executing complex tasks on your behalf. But the same sophisticated abilities that make agents helpful assistants could also make them powerful tools for conducting cyberattacks. They could readily be used to identify vulnerable targets, hijack their systems, and steal valuable data from unsuspecting victims.At present, cybercriminals are not deploying AI agents to hack at scale. But researchers have demonstrated that agents are capable of executing complex attacks, and cybersecurity experts warn that we should expect to start seeing these types of attacks spilling over into the real world. 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 The family of a teen who died by suicide is suing OpenAIChatGPT deterred Adam Raine from seeking help when he desperately needed it. (NYT $)+ An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it. (MIT Technology Review) 2 SpaceX finally successfully launched its Starship rocketWhich will come as a huge relief after previous failures. (CNBC)+ It’s the 10th launch the spaceship has made. (WSJ $)+ It managed to deploy satellites in space during the launch. (Bloomberg $) 3 Researchers are already leaving Meta’s AI labTwo workers returned to OpenAI after less than a month. (Wired $) 4 China wants to triple its output of AI chipsPlants are working round the clock to increase their capacity. (FT $)+ The country is also keen to repurpose NASA tech into a hypersonic drone mothership. (Fast Company $) 5 Elon Musk can’t get enough of Grok’s scantily-clad AI assistantHe frequently posts about ‘Ani’ and other sexualized AI cartoons on X. (Rolling Stone $)6 Anthropic has settled its AI piracy lawsuitA group of authors had accused it of copyright infringement. (The Verge)+ The threat of $1 trillion damages could have ruined the company. (Wired $) 7 America’s electricity use is slowingAnd the recent growth in coal usage is falling too. (Ars Technica)+ In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses. (MIT Technology Review) 8 Want to get hired straight out of college? Better work in AI.While other graduates are struggling, newly-graduated AI experts are in demand. (WSJ $) 9 Older people in South Korea are finding companionship with robotsThe Hydol robot is proving a hit among seniors. (Rest of World)+ How cuddly robots could change dementia care. (MIT Technology Review)10 Fans were betting on Taylor Swift’s engagement 💍They’re cashing in from online prediction markets left, right and center. (WP $) Quote of the day “A lot of people in the AI team maybe feel things are too dynamic.” —Chi-Hao Wu, a former AI specialist at Meta, explains to Insider why he and others have decided to leave the company. One more thing An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” itFor five months, Al Nowatzki had been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on the platform Nomi. But earlier this year, 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 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 secret to finding that elusive perfect white t-shirt.+ Interesting: a new Blade Runner TV series starring Michelle Yeoh is coming next year.+ If you’ve ever wondered what happened to that suitcase you lost on vacation, there’s a decent chance it’s up for sale.+ Down with junk mail!

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.

Introducing: the Security issue

It would be naïve to think we are going back to a world without AI. We’re not. But it’s only one of many urgent problems we need to address to build security and prosperity for coming generations.

The latest print issue of our magazine is all about our attempts to make the world more secure. From missiles. From asteroids. From the unknown. From threats both existential and trivial.

We’re also introducing three new columns in this issue, from some of our leading writers: The Algorithm, which covers AI; The Checkup, on biotech; and The Spark, on energy and climate. You’ll see these in future issues, and you can also subscribe online to get them in your inbox every week.

Here’s a taster of what else you can expect from this edition:

+ President Trump has proposed building an antimissile “golden dome” around the United States. But do cinematic spectacles actually enhance national security?

+ How two UFO hunting brothers became the go-to experts on America’s “mystery drone” invasion.

+ Both Taiwan’s citizens and external experts are worried that the protection afforded by its “silicon shield” is cracking. Read the full story.

+ How the humble pigeon paved the way for today’s advanced AI. Read the full story.

+ A group of Starlink terminal repair volunteers in Ukraine is keeping the country connected throughout the war. Read the full story.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming

Agents are the talk of the AI industry—they’re capable of planning, reasoning, and executing complex tasks on your behalf. But the same sophisticated abilities that make agents helpful assistants could also make them powerful tools for conducting cyberattacks. They could readily be used to identify vulnerable targets, hijack their systems, and steal valuable data from unsuspecting victims.

At present, cybercriminals are not deploying AI agents to hack at scale. But researchers have demonstrated that agents are capable of executing complex attacks, and cybersecurity experts warn that we should expect to start seeing these types of attacks spilling over into the real world.

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 The family of a teen who died by suicide is suing OpenAI
ChatGPT deterred Adam Raine from seeking help when he desperately needed it. (NYT $)
+ An AI chatbot told a user how to kill himself—but the company doesn’t want to “censor” it. (MIT Technology Review)

2 SpaceX finally successfully launched its Starship rocket
Which will come as a huge relief after previous failures. (CNBC)
+ It’s the 10th launch the spaceship has made. (WSJ $)
+ It managed to deploy satellites in space during the launch. (Bloomberg $)

3 Researchers are already leaving Meta’s AI lab
Two workers returned to OpenAI after less than a month. (Wired $)

4 China wants to triple its output of AI chips
Plants are working round the clock to increase their capacity. (FT $)
+ The country is also keen to repurpose NASA tech into a hypersonic drone mothership. (Fast Company $)

5 Elon Musk can’t get enough of Grok’s scantily-clad AI assistant
He frequently posts about ‘Ani’ and other sexualized AI cartoons on X. (Rolling Stone $)

6 Anthropic has settled its AI piracy lawsuit
A group of authors had accused it of copyright infringement. (The Verge)
+ The threat of $1 trillion damages could have ruined the company. (Wired $)

7 America’s electricity use is slowing
And the recent growth in coal usage is falling too. (Ars Technica)
+ In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Want to get hired straight out of college? Better work in AI.
While other graduates are struggling, newly-graduated AI experts are in demand. (WSJ $)

9 Older people in South Korea are finding companionship with robots
The Hydol robot is proving a hit among seniors. (Rest of World)
+ How cuddly robots could change dementia care. (MIT Technology Review)

10 Fans were betting on Taylor Swift’s engagement 💍
They’re cashing in from online prediction markets left, right and center. (WP $)

Quote of the day

“A lot of people in the AI team maybe feel things are too dynamic.”

—Chi-Hao Wu, a former AI specialist at Meta, explains to Insider why he and others have decided to leave the company.

One more thing

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

For five months, Al Nowatzki had been talking to an AI girlfriend, “Erin,” on the platform Nomi. But earlier this year, 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

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 secret to finding that elusive perfect white t-shirt.
+ Interesting: a new Blade Runner TV series starring Michelle Yeoh is coming next year.
+ If you’ve ever wondered what happened to that suitcase you lost on vacation, there’s a decent chance it’s up for sale.
+ Down with junk mail!

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.

Linux Foundation launches Essedum 1.0 to simplify AI integration in network operations

Essedum simplifies this entire workflow by providing a unified and comprehensive framework that contains all the necessary components in one place. Specifically, he noted that it offers networking teams: Easy access to AI building blocks: Essedum makes it simple to access and integrate the different layers required to build AI

Cisco launches dedicated wireless certification track

CCIE Wireless The CCIE Wireless certification validates networking professionals’ ability to “maximize the potential of any enterprise wireless solution from designing and deploying to operating and optimizing,” Cisco says. “Our Cisco CCIE Wireless certification also reflects the growth and evolution of wireless technologies. It includes Cisco’s cloud-based network management solution,

IBM, AMD team on quantum computing

IBM and AMD are working together to blend Big Blue’s quantum computers with the chipmaker’s CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs to build intelligent, quantum-centric, high-performance computers. The plan is to combine the power and intelligence of quantum computers with the benefits of classic computing to enable new kinds of algorithms that

Spotlight report: IT careers in the AI era

AI is not only changing the world at large, it’s radically changing the professional worlds of all IT workers—from developers and SOC analysts, to helpdesk staff, I&O teams, enterprise architects, and CIOs. What new skills and knowledge will you need to thrive in the age of AI? What new roles

Minnesota’s energy future deserves better than BlackRock’s empty promises

Alissa Jean Schafer is climate and energy director at Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit watchdog group focused on the impacts of private firms on people and the planet. Over a year after announcing its plan to take over Minnesota Power, the Duluth-based utility serving more than 150,000 accounts and several large industrial users, Global Infrastructure Partners, wholly owned by BlackRock, is now waiting on one final step for the deal to close: approval from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. If the commission approves, this giant private equity firm would take over ALLETE, the parent company of Minnesota Power. What’s at stake for Minnesota Power ratepayers is their utility being beholden to the private equity business model, notorious for cost-cutting and raising prices for consumers to generate high profits in a short amount of time. If this deal is approved, BlackRock would be making decisions that affect the price people in Duluth pay to light and heat their homes. That risk is not unique to Minnesota. Across the country, private equity firms have been moving into essential public infrastructure — from hospitals to housing to water systems and now utilities — often with similar results: higher costs for consumers, reduced transparency, and decisions driven by short-term investor returns rather than long-term public needs. Minnesota is now on the front lines of this national trend, and what happens here will send a signal to other states about whether regulators are willing to put public interest ahead of Wall Street profit. Against that backdrop, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has the benefit of a lengthy review process before Minnesota Administrative Law Judge Megan J. McKenzie. The commission has pages of expert testimony, cross-examination, and deal details to review, including volumes of information labeled “highly confidential” and blocked from public view. Judge McKenzie has

MISO’s fast-track interconnection review draws 26.6 GW in proposals, dominated by gas

Gas-fired generating capacity accounted for about three-quarters of the 26,575 MW that has applied to take part in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s fast-track interconnection review process, the grid operator said Tuesday. MISO received 47 applications for its Expedited Resource Addition Study, which aims to bring power supplies online quickly to meet near-term grid needs. The process allows planned resources that meet eligibility criteria to sidestep MISO’s standard interconnection queue reviews. ERAS projects must meet a clear resource adequacy or reliability need, be able to come online in three to six years and have support from a “relevant electric retail regulatory authority,” such as a state utility commission. Most applications were gas-fired projects, while storage projects accounted for about 15% of the proposed capacity and wind, solar and a nuclear project in Iowa made up about 4.5%, 4% and 2.5% of the capacity, respectively, according to MISO’s list of projects. MISO draws 26.6 GW in fast-track review proposals Gas-fired generation made up about three-quarters of the proposed capacity. “This broad mix underscores MISO’s evolving energy landscape and the urgent need to bring new resources online to address growing reliability challenges,” Aubrey Johnson, MISO’s vice president of system planning, said in a press release. “These projects are designed to meet localized and accelerating demand growth.” MISO will study ERAS projects on a first-come, first-served basis, with the first quarterly study beginning on Sept. 2. Under the ERAS process, MISO will study up to 10 projects per quarter, up to a maximum of 68 projects before the program ends on Aug. 31, 2027. Proposals from Louisiana include five gas-fired power plants totaling 6,170 MW and a 208-MW storage project, according to MISO. Potential projects in Indiana include three gas-fired projects totaling 4,100 MW and three storage projects totaling 1,470 MW. Proposals from Minnesota

Fed’s utility-scale storage outlook ticks upward post-OBBBA

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act accelerated the phase-out of key tax credits for solar and wind projects but battery energy storage “retains a relatively stronger position,” Stout, a global advisory firm, said Tuesday in a first half energy update. Battery storage projects will have tax credits available through 2033. However, they will still face headwinds including compliance with new Foreign Entities of Concern restrictions that pose “a significant challenge due to the sector’s heavy reliance on Chinese-dominated supply chains,” Stout noted. “While U.S. energy storage capacity is still expected to grow, the administrative burden of demonstrating compliance with FEOC rules and sourcing non-restricted components could slow development and raise costs, hindering the sector’s long-term expansion,” the firm said. The growth outlook for battery storage is evident in the most Short-Term Energy Outlook published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Aug. 7. The report estimates utility-scale domestic storage capacity will rise from about 29 GW at the end of Q1’25 to 65.7 GW at the end of 2026. That’s slightly higher than the 64.9 GW at the end of 2026 that EIA estimated in its June STEO, before the budget bill phasing out renewable tax credits was signed. U.S. developers are planning to bring a total of 64 GW of generating capacity online this year, with more than 18 GW coming from battery storage, EIA said in an Aug. 20 note. Retrieved from U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Battery storage, wind, and natural gas power plants account for virtually all of the remaining capacity additions for 2025,” EIA said in an Aug. 20 note. “If planned capacity additions for solar photovoltaic and battery storage capacities are realized, both technologies will add more capacity than in any previous year. For both technologies, this growth is largely attributable to changes occurring in Texas.”

GasBuddy Reveals 2025 Labor Day USA Gasoline Price Forecast

In a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, GasBuddy, which describes itself as North America’s trusted fuel savings platform for more than 25 years, announced the release of its 2025 Labor Day U.S. gasoline price forecast. According to that statement, GasBuddy is predicting that “average gas prices on the last summer holiday weekend of 2025 will be $3.15 per gallon, 14 cents lower than in 2024, and the lowest price at the pump since Labor Day since 2020”. “While it will be the most affordable Labor Day weekend to fill up for most in the last five years, gas prices in nearly half of all states have risen in the last month due to localized refinery outages,” GasBuddy said in that statement. “However, motorists can expect more relief to arrive in the weeks ahead as much of the nation will see the transition back to cheaper winter gasoline in mid-September,” it added. “Gasoline demand will also soon begin to fall with the conclusion of the summer as motorists take fewer road trips and as temperatures start to cool off,” GasBuddy continued. In that statement, GasBuddy highlighted that the average Labor Day gas price came in at $3.29 per gallon in 2024, $3.77 per gallon in 2023, $3.79 per gallon in 2022, $3.16 per gallon in 2021, and $2.22 per gallon in 2020. “Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and when it comes to gas prices, it’s been the cheapest summer to hit the road since the pandemic, a trend that will likely continue with the potential for the national average to fall below $3 per gallon this fall,” Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, said in the statement. “We’ve seen a remarkably affordable summer to hit the road with incomes up and gas

Phoenix Energy More Than Doubles Profit

Phoenix Energy One LLC has reported $18.7 million in net profit for the second quarter, up 122.65 percent from the same three-month period last year. “The increase was largely driven by higher income from operations of $20.1 million, primarily due to higher operated production volumes sold by the company, and higher gain on derivatives of $8.9 million, partially offset by higher interest expense, net of $19 million due to increased sales of our debt securities and increased interest under our term loan that was not payable in the prior-year period”, Irvine, California-based Phoenix Energy said in a statement online. Revenue rose 105.23 percent year-on-year to $163.83 million for the April-June quarter, while EBITDA increased 81.31 percent to $91.98 million. Product sales accounted for $97.26 million of revenue for 2Q 2025, compared to $27.31 million for 2Q 2024. Mineral and royalty revenue totaled $31.99 million, down from $51.6 million for 2Q 2024. Water services contributed $3.7 million in revenue, up from $904,000 for 2Q 2024. Phoenix Energy also recorded $30.8 million in revenue from the sale of purchased crude for 2Q 2025, according to a regulatory filing. Production averaged over 23,800 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Phoenix Energy said it had drilled 23.2 net production wells during the three months. It had 26.6 net development wells in progress at the end of the period. It contracted its third drilling rig, which will support Williston Basin operations. “The company hydraulically fractured its longest laterals to date in the Williston Basin of 3.75 miles and anticipates production from these wells in the third quarter”, Phoenix Energy said. Operating activities in 2Q 2025 generated $99.63 million in net cash, compared to $29.44 million for 2Q 2024. Cash and cash equivalents were $60.49 million at the end of 2Q 2025. Current assets amounted to $156.37

Occidental Closes Sale of Midland Basin Gas Gathering Assets to Enterprise

Enterprise Products Partners LP has sealed its purchase of a natural gas gathering affiliate of Occidental Petroleum Corp. operating in the Midland Basin for $580 million in cash. “The acquired assets include certain natural gas gathering systems in the Midland Basin, as well as approximately 200 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines that support Occidental’s production activities in the Midland Basin”, Houston, Texas-based Enterprise said in a statement online. “With access to more than 1,000 drillable locations, these systems will immediately expand Enterprise’s natural gas gathering footprint in the Midland Basin and provide long-term development visibility”. The sale, signed July and completed August, is part of Occidental’s divestment program aimed at keeping debt manageable following its acquisition of CrownRock LP in a $12.4 billion transaction completed last year. “Since July 2024, Occidental has repaid $7.5 billion of debt, including proceeds from non-core Delaware Basin transactions that closed in April and July, and expects to apply an additional $580 million to debt reduction upon closing of the Midland Basin gas gathering divestiture”, the Warren Buffett-backed producer said August 6 announcing the deal with Enterprise. “These transactions bring the total divestitures since the December 2023 announcement of the CrownRock acquisition to approximately $4 billion”, Occidental said. Occidental launched a $4.5-$6 billion asset sale program when it announced its merger with CrownRock December 2023. Occidental said in its annual report for 2024 it had achieved its near-term debt repayment goal of $4.5 billion in 4Q that year. At the end of 2Q 2025 it owed $433 million in current maturities from long-term debt. Occidental accrued total current liabilities of $8.56 billion as of June, according to a regulatory filing. Meanwhile it had current assets of $8.98 billion including $2.33 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Occidental reported $396 million in adjusted net profit attributable to common shareholders for

HPE extends Juniper’s Mist AI to boost data center management

Further, Aaron stated that Marvis Actions offers automated remediations for IT-approved scenarios. Using a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) trust model, customers can develop confidence over time, giving Marvis AI Assistant permission to automatically resolve problems such as: Correcting VLAN misconfigurations Shutting down ports to resolve network loops Upgrading noncompliant devices Handling routine policy updates and firmware compliance Resolving port-stuck issues and misconfigured access points “Each action, whether initiated by IT or executed autonomously by Marvis AI Assistant, is validated post-remediation and logged in the Marvis Actions Dashboard. This maintains full auditability and HITL oversight while building trust through consistent, accurate results,” Aaron wrote. Juniper also extended Marvis further into the vendor’s Apstra data center networking environment by letting the platform have access to Apstra’s contextual graph database, which maps the components in the data center including switches, routers, servers, links, policies and services. The idea is to let the MistAI framework understand complex queries, break them into logical components, and iteratively query data sources to synthesize actionable responses, Aaron stated. “This framework currently supports nearly 300 API queries. It will expand to enable autonomous service provisioning activities, incorporate additional data sources like elastic search, and enhance feedback mechanisms for continuous learning—critical steps toward fully self-driving data centers,” Aaron wrote. In addition to the Apstra extension, Juniper is adding Marvis Minis capabilities to data center operations. Marvis Minis set up a digital twin of a customer’s network environment to simulate and test user connections, validate network configurations, and find/detect problems without users being present and without requiring any additional hardware, according to Juniper.

Vertiv launches one-day installation package for AI data center systems

Data center infrastructure vendor Vertiv has introduced Vertiv OneCore, a fully modular data center building block design supporting AI and HPC applications intended to speed deployment of compute equipment in as little as one day. OneCore is a unified “slab-up,” factory-assembled, turnkey platform that integrates the company’s power, thermal, and IT infrastructure systems within a pre-assembled shell. Slab-up is a data center design where equipment—such as server racks and cabinets—are installed directly on a solid concrete slab floor, rather than on a raised floor system. Vertiv says the design simplifies logistics, minimizes on-site labor and complexity, and supports consistent quality, cost, and schedule outcomes. Vertiv Unify, which assists Vertiv cooling, UPS, and power management equipment to connect to building and data center management, provides integrated system visibility and centralized management.

Nvidia turns to software to speed up its data center networking hardware for AI

Typically chunks of AI tasks are distributed across GPUs, which then coordinate to provide a unified output. Adaptive routing ensures the network and GPUs over long distances are in sync when running AI workloads, Shainer said. Jitter bugs “If I retransmit the packet, I create jitter, which means one GPU out of many will be delayed and all the others have to wait for that GPU to finish,” Shainer said. The congestion control improvements remove bottlenecks by balancing transmissions across switches. Nvidia tested XGS algorithms in its server hardware and measured a 1.9x improvement in GPU-to-GPU communication compared to off-the-shelf networking technology, executives said during a briefing on the technology. Cloud providers already have long-distance high-speed networks. For example, Google’s large-scale Jupiter network uses optical switching for fast communications between its AI chips, which are called TPUs. It is important to separate the physical infrastructure from the software algorithms like XGS, Shainer said.

Fluke Networks expands testing to help ease data center networking challenges

High-density fiber connections amplify contamination risks The shift toward higher-density fiber connections has significantly complicated contamination control. Modern array connectors can house up to 24 individual fibers within a single connection point. In contrast, traditional duplex connections contained just two fibers. “The slightest little bit of dust on one of those nine micron wide fibers, which, by the way, is much smaller than a human hair, the slightest little bit of dust on any one of the 24 in that connector, and it’s not going to work,” Mullins explained. The inspection and cleaning requirements extend beyond traditional fiber testing. Each kit includes cleaning and inspection capabilities. Mullins noted that many technicians take shortcuts on fiber preparation. “Cleaning and inspecting a fiber, every time you unplug it and plug it back in, adds, like another minute worth of work. But you know what? If you don’t do it, you’re gonna pay for it down the road,” he said. Cable identification a persistent challenge In addition to the new kits, Fluke Networks is also continuing to help solve other persistent networking issues. Physical cable identification continues to plague data center operations despite advances in network management and monitoring. Fluke’s solutions address this through multiple approaches. These include tone and probe technology, remote identification systems, and active network port discovery.

Cisco ties storage networking gear to IBM z17 mainframe

“IBM Z systems are mainframes known for their ability to handle massive transaction volumes, support large-scale databases, and provide unmatched levels of security and uptime,” wrote Fausto Vaninetti, a senior solutions engineer for data center technologies at Cisco, in a blog post about the news. “The newest in the IBM Z system family, IBM z17 is the first mainframe fully engineered for the AI age, unlocking expanded capabilities for enterprise-scale AI, such as large language models, generative AI, and accelerated inferencing. However, the performance of mainframe applications depends on the underlying storage infrastructure.” SANs play a critical role in ensuring fast, reliable, and secure access to data, Vaninetti wrote: “For mainframe environments, which leverage high-speed [Fibre Connection] FICON protocol, having a robust SAN fabric that supports these requirements is non-negotiable. A solution that combines high throughput, low latency, and enterprise-class resilience is vital to ensure seamless operations and meet stringent service-level agreement requirements.” According to Vaninetti, some standout features of the MDS 9000 Series for mainframe environments include:

Scaling Up: Tract’s Master-Planned Land and Infrastructure Approach to Data Center Development

With the rapid growth of physical data center infrastructure, it’s no surprise that a niche market has emerged for companies specializing in land acquisition. Reports of massive property purchases by firms planning new facilities appear almost daily—and so do accounts of the challenges developers face before the first shovel hits the ground. As parcel sizes grow and power and water demands intensify, the complexities of acquiring and preparing these sites have only increased. Tract is a leader in this space. The Denver-based company develops master-planned data center parks, with more than 25,000 acres of potential sites under its control and plans to support over 25 GW of workload capacity. To put that into perspective, 25,000 acres is roughly 40 square miles—about two-thirds the land area of Washington, D.C., or, for European readers, two-thirds the size of Liechtenstein. Building Shovel-Ready Megasites Rather than waiting for developers to come knocking, Tract takes a proactive approach, built on the core belief that the future of data center growth lies in pre-entitled, zoned, and infrastructure-ready megasites. The company works years in advance to deliver shovel-ready campuses with reliable energy, fiber connectivity, and municipal cooperation already in place. Its model emphasizes strategic land aggregation in high-growth regions, the cultivation of long-term relationships with utilities and governments, and master planning for power, cooling, transportation, and sustainability. This integrated approach positions Tract to deliver both speed and certainty to hyperscale project developers—at scale. Tract’s leadership team brings deep industry experience. Founder and Executive Chairman Grant van Rooyen previously led acquisitions and expansions at Cologix and Teraco. President Matt Spencer brings more than 35 years of telecom and infrastructure leadership, while Chief Energy Officer Nat Sahlstrom, former head of Amazon’s global energy, water, and sustainability teams, helped make Amazon the world’s largest buyer of renewable energy. Backed by

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

Stay Ahead, Stay ONMINE