23 h. ago Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green

Increase influenced by datacentre growth, with estimated power required by 2026 equalling that of Japan’sGoogle’s carbon emissions have soared by 51% since 2019 as artificial intelligence hampers the tech company’s efforts to go green.While the corporation has invested in renewable energy and carbon removal technology, it has failed to curb its scope 3 emissions, which are those further down the supply chain, and are in large part influenced by a growth in datacentre capacity required to power artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Events

38 h. ago Protesters blockade Palantir’s offices calling for an end to ‘totalitarian police surveillance’ as tech company aids ICE deportations

Six people were arrested in New York City in protests over the firm’s alleged work building a massive new surveillance apparatus for President Donald Trump

Events

2 d. ago Anthropic did not breach copyright when training AI on books without permission, court rules

Judge says firm made ‘fair use’ of literature but that storage of pirated books in central library constituted infringementA US judge has ruled that a tech company’s use of books to train its artificial intelligence system – without permission of the authors – did not breach copyright law.A federal judge in San Francisco said Anthropic made “fair use” of books by writers Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson to train its Claude large language model. Continue reading...

Events

2 d. ago Top Meta exec joins US army’s ‘next generation’ tech team Detachment 201

Longtime Zuckerberg lieutenant Andrew Bosworth calls donning fatigues with Palantir and OpenAI brass ‘great honor’Meta’s chief technology officer has called it “the great honor of my life” to be enlisted in a new US army corps that defence chiefs set up to better integrate military and tech industry expertise, including senior figures from top tech firms that also include Palantir and OpenAI.Andrew Bosworth, a long-term lieutenant to Mark Zuckerberg known widely as “Boz”, is one of several senior Silicon Valley executives commissioned to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the corps, called Detachment 201, which the US army says will “fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 d. ago Meta boss praises new US army division enlisting tech execs as lieutenant colonels

Longtime Zuckerberg lieutenant Andrew Bosworth calls donning fatigues with Palantir and OpenAI brass ‘great honor’Meta’s chief technology officer has called it “the great honor of my life” to be enlisted in a new US army corps that defence chiefs set up to better integrate military and tech industry expertise, including senior figures from top tech firms that also include Palantir and OpenAI.Andrew Bosworth, a long-term lieutenant to Mark Zuckerberg known widely as “Boz”, is one of several senior Silicon Valley executives commissioned to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the corps, called Detachment 201, which the US army says will “fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation”. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Google may have to make changes to UK search engine, says watchdog

The tech giant is the first company being targeted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) under a new set of digital market laws.

Politics

2 w. ago Amazon to spend $20 billion building AI data centers in Pennsylvania

Tech company is building one center next to nuclear power plant and hopes it can plug straight into it

Economics

3 w. ago Belfast tech company invests £1.8m in cybersecurity solution for factory floors

Economy minister Caoimhe Archibald attended the announcement by ANGOKA.

Economics

3 w. ago Watch: Humanoid robot housekeeper set to transform hotel industry, say tech company

A Chinese tech company has unveiled a humanoid cleaning robot it claims has the potential to transform the hospitality industry.

Society

4 w. ago Popular ice cream chain to close 500 stores due to bankruptcy

Thrifty Ice Cream was acquired by Rite Aid in 1996

Politics

last month No Man Is an Island: a British society and its historic push for gay rights

This creative documentary immerses us in a little-known chapter of gay history. In 1992, the Isle of Man was one of the last places in western Europe to decriminalise homosexual acts. Through verbatim reconstruction and newly discovered archives, we understand the impact of discriminatory parliamentary debates, controversial media coverage and overreaching police surveillance. In a short period of time, this corner of the British Isles went on to create some of the most progressive legislation in the world. Do people change, or do laws change people?• If you have been affected by the issues raised in this film, help and support is available. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Politics