As someone who has recently been tasked with digging for this kind of information about data centers, believe me when I tell you that the regulatory landscape for these things is basically the wild west
I am.........v v surprised by this @mollytaft.com exclusive revealing that the US EIA will force data centres to disclose energy use. I am worried the only reason this is allowed to happen is they're collecting *something* but *not enough* info to be really meaningful
www.wired.com/story/the-us...
i am also surprised! i will say i had a lot of questions about the survey that the agency did not answer :)
GOOD IDEA: The Energy Information Administration is making plans for a mandatory survey of data centers covering their actual energy use, on which we have surprisingly solid little information. @mollytaft.com with the news:
EXCLUSIVE: the US's energy information agency is planning to implement a nationwide survey of data centers to collect information on energy use, infrastructure, cooling techniques, and other info
would be the first such survey of data centers of its kind
I spoke with one of the world’s leading experts on anti-tech extremism about the rising violence against executives and politicians who support AI data centers.
Our conclusion?
Expect a lot more future violence over AI data centers, period.
My latest for @heatmap.news
Anyone interested in this topic should really try to find a copy of Powerline by Paul Wellstone and Barry Casper. This kind of industrial sabotage of unwanted energy infrastructure has a long history.
excited to be joining @kqedforum.bsky.social again today at 10am PT / 1pm ET to talk all things data center opposition :)
You're invited to WIRED@Night!
Ben McKenzie joins WIRED senior correspondent Andy Greenberg for a no-holds-barred conversation on the facts and fiction of cryptocurrency.
Tickets and more info here:
events.wired.com/at-night/
the number of times i have seen an anti-data-center image for a local resistance group that was generated with AI......
i don't think people are fully prepared for how scrambled the politics around data centers are. opposition to data centers often ≠ opposition to AI
Wild and a great example of why AI can’t replace humans in media. Generative AI can’t make these kinds of logical connections or do this kind of research. For this, you need a nerd (complimentary).
Screenshot of a challenge coin for sale that depicts Charlotte's Web characters in riot gear
After we contacted one of the groups, they removed multiple listings we identified, including the "Charlotte's Web" challenge coin that the children's book publisher HarperCollins said was an "unauthorized use of the intellectual property associated with a beloved children’s book"
NEW: I found IRS paperwork for several nonprofits whose addresses matched Border Patrol stations. Some of the groups, named after the military's "morale, welfare, and recreation" program, were selling challenge coins commemorating last year's enforcement surges: www.wired.com/story/us-bor...
when @regret.bsky.social showed me the us border patrol challenge coin that depicted the pig and the girl from charlotte's web wearing riot gear i almost had a heart attack
sobbing at the moon crater naming after the astronaut’s late wife
by the way it bears repeating if you are an employee of google (or any other tech company building out gas infrastructure) you can contact me securely on signal at mollytaft.76
NEW STORY!
In 2023 @gavinnewsom.bsky.social stood on a vast landscape in Imperial Valley, declaring California's lithium revolution had arrived.
But now the plans are mired by fighting, the feds are trying to kill renewables, and AI, not EVs, reigns. What's next? capitalandmain.com/newsom-promi...
by the way it bears repeating if you are an employee of google (or any other tech company building out gas infrastructure) you can contact me securely on signal at mollytaft.76
NEW: air permit applications for a data center being built with investment from google shows it would rely on a natural gas power plant that emits more than 4.5 million tons of greenhouse gasses each year
google has publicly touted its commitment to renewables but appears to be privately eyeing gas
There are two versions of Microsoft Outlook on Artemis II. Last night, neither of them worked, and Houston had to remote in to address the problem.
it sounds like he went to the nyt with something they (correctly) interpreted as a tip about a story that was already unfolding publicly, the times contacted the publisher which then pulled the book. no real scoops here sorry!
i find this piece pretty weird, not because i doubt that nyt doesn't pull this stuff on freelancers, but because the author didn't "break" anything — allegations that shy girl was AI-generated have been circulating online for a year, and there was a massively viral youtube video analyzing the text
Summit swore its pipeline wouldn't be used to transport CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. What changed? The president, American climate and energy policy, carbon tax credits and the fate of the company's original route and permit.
A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history. www.wired.com/story/border...
NEW: @wired.com has ID’d a number of the masked paramilitary agents in the exceedingly violent unit surrounding Greg Bovino that formed the leading edge of the invading force the federal government sent to Chicago last fall; @awinston.bsky.social and @regret.bsky.social have the story.
Reminder, we currently have people in space, heading toward the moon.
Maine is poised to freeze large data-center construction, which would make it the first state to enact such a measure as communities across the U.S. grapple with fallout from the AI boom.
