Figure 1.9 ⊳ Select AI infrastructure and types of applications IEA. CC BY 4.0. AI is supported by a highly complex global supply chain These AI-focused chips, in turn, are manufactured using highly complex machines. Advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, such as those produced by ASML, are crucial for creating the intricate circuit patterns on AI-focused chips. This process involves using light to etch switches onto silicon wafers. ASML, headquartered in the Netherlands, is the market leader in manufacturing these machines. The optical systems – which are among the most critical of the core components of ASML’s lithography machines – are, in turn, manufactured by the German company Carl Zeiss. These are only a few of the key components that enable AI. The supply chains of various other parts of the puzzle, such as silicon wafers and data centre cooling systems, are also highly international. AI is therefore a global enterprise, even as parts of it are heavily concentrated in certain regions.

This whole section on the supply chain is really good (and specifically what the IEA is quite good at) - and also an amusing reminder of how severe the self-own was when big tech CEOs cuddled up to Donald Trump and are now facing tariff nightmares on their promised magic AI growth

Explore this report with AI BETA Terms of use Bot said: Hello! I’m a virtual agent here to help you explore the key findings of the IEA’s special report on energy and AI. Remember, AI can make mistakes, and you should verify the answers independently with the original source materials. Bot said: Hello! I’m a virtual agent here to help you explore the key findings of the IEA’s special report on energy and AI. Remember, AI can make mistakes, and you should verify the answers independently with the original source materials. Sent at April 20 at 11:32 AM Just now You said: If this chatbot makes mistakes, wouldn't it make more sense for me to just read the actual report instead of having it filtered through a mistake-making machine? You said: If this chatbot makes mistakes, wouldn't it make more sense for me to just read the actual report instead of having it filtered through a mistake-making machine? Sent at April 20 at 11:32 AM Just now Bot said: The Special Report on Energy and AI provides neutral, fact-based analysis and data without endorsing any specific fuel, technology, or policy. Bot said: The Special Report on Energy and AI provides neutral, fact-based analysis and data without endorsing any specific fuel, technology, or policy. Sent at April 20 at 11:32 AM Bot said: Is there anything else I can help you with? Bot said: Is there anything else I can help you with?

In a direct protest against the @iea.org's plea to use the custom chatbot to explore this report, I am going to read the entire thing (all 304 pages) using my actual brain, and this thread will be where I dump reactions, thoughts, notes etc as I go through it

www.iea.org/reports/ener...

a chart showing arpidly rising data centre capital expenditure

I've seen this chart on like 6 different platforms now, and not a single living soul can explain who made it or provide proper, explanatory references.

So many potential issues with this. Hyperscalers don't disclose actual data centre specific capex. What does "start of program" mean. Who made it

1 yr ago I wrote a massive thread on @iea.org huge AI / energy report.

WELL it's one year later and they've released an update, but notably, there is no chatbot. Well....I'm going to read it anyway, and you're all going to get spammed with notes :)

that's means a NEW ULTRATHREAD 🧵

Amazon will pay $20.5 million to settle Oregon data center pollution allegations Nitrate pollution has poisoned wells used by thoughts of residents in the Lower Umatilla Basin.

www.oregonlive.com/silicon-fore...

xAI data center gets air permit to run 15 turbines, but imaging shows 24 on site County health department accused of turning a “blind eye” to xAI’s alleged pollution.

Memphis is being poisoned to power Grok regurgitating text statistically similar to the nazi propaganda it was trained on.

Btw: he only applied for a permit for 15 gas turbines, and then put at least 24 on site.

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

@ndiazbejarano.bsky.social

This plan depicts lands associated with Big River I.R. 118A (Canada Lands #06608). The lands depicted in this plan are associated with Big River First Nation. “854 CLSR SK. Plan, Indian Reserve No. 118A, Addition for Big River Indians of Reserve no. 118. Treaty 6, Saskatchewan. [cartographic material].” 1908. Library and Archives Canada.

Call for Papers – Treaty 6 at 150: Reading the Land, Reckoning the Past

A NiCHE & @skhistoryfolklore.bsky.social series
Proposal Deadline: 30 June 2026
Series publication beginning in August 2026

niche-canada.org/2026/04/09/c...

#envhist #cdnhist #indigenoushistory #treatysix #skhistory #alberta

Want to help garden birds? Don't feed them in warmer months, says RSPB The UK's largest bird charity has issued new guidance advising people to stop using feeders to help wildlife thrive.

On birds, feeders and the warmer months. Help our feathered friends, but do the right thing!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lwvz1pl1no

England’s sewage scandal hinges on lack of water industry regulation – new docudrama reveals how profit drives pollution The water industry has been left to police its own pollution.

I'm still processing but I watched Dirty Business (not even done yet) & while I knew a lot about this & lived in Ox, I'm completely beguiled by the almost direct parallel to what we're going through with AI. I'm at a heightened awareness of our role as academics.

theconversation.com/englands-sew...

Roll up, roll up! Spring is here and I am looking for reviews for @urbanhistory.bsky.social. Here are some titles we're interested in. If you want a copy of anything below (in return for a review) or want to pitch something to us, drop us a line! Beginning with the incomparable Timothy Mitchell...

#Frankfurt! our Saturday night event at the @buechergildeffm.bsky.social is SOLD OUT, but you can go on the wait list there and still join us at the Museum Giersch der Goethe-Universität Sunday at 2pm! @boriscrito.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social @drkarenlord.bsky.social yours truly and more!

An Iranian girl playing on the swings on Khajeh Atta Beach near the Strait of Hormuz, as smoke from recent drone strikes plumes in the background.

Figure 1 Drivers of future grid electricity demand in NSW, net change from 2026 (source: Net Zero Commission analysis of AEMO 2025 ESOO). Comparisons of data centres with electrification of transport, business and residential sectors. Shaded areas show the range of values across AEMO’s four demand scenarios (Slower Growth, Step Change, Accelerated Transition, Data Centre Sensitivity) and the curves show the Step Change demand scenario (considered by AEMO to be the most likely demand trajectory).

A useful view of how data centre growth in NSW compares to future demand growth from electrification. The idea that crowding out connections, resources and cash with a desperate industry somehow "helps" the transition makes absolutely zero sense.

media.licdn.com/dms/document...

Refugees and AI Centering the lived experiences of refugees and their power building work in fighting against surveillance technologies.

🔇🔇🔇 On Friday April 17th (9am PDT/5pm CET/7pm EAT), we'll have a virtual event introducing our Refugees, Migrants and AI research program which centers the lived experiences of refugees and migrants and puts power back into their hands🧵

☘️☘️☘️ Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/refugees-a...

Gracias a todas las personas que nos habéis escrito a raíz de la publicación de las reglas sobre el uso de la IA en Civio.

Queremos poner las cartas sobre la mesa y ser honestas contigo sobre cómo usamos la inteligencia artificial.

Ojalá más organizaciones se animen a dar el paso.

I’m watching the new essential film, Ghosts in the Machine, featuring many esteemed colleagues of mine, and noting how many of the great men scientists making claims about the ability for machines to mimic humanity also denied the humanity of women in myriad ways.

And here comes @melhogan.bsky.social and @anavaldi.bsky.social speaking on the absolute resource theft data centers represent. Sam Altman asked what he would do with “1000 times more compute” 🙄, and he doesn’t even try a line like, “End world hunger.” Like not even the pretense anymore.

thank you for writing such a brave text!

When it comes to writing, the process is the purpose. You don’t have to always like or enjoy the process, but if you don’t respect it enough to do it yourself, there is no purpose.

AI will never fill that void.

www.thehandbasket.co/p/refusing-t...

Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) | Radboud University The Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) project provides new scientific insights and innovative ways of thinking based on expert critical perspectives on AI in science and society.

"The Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) project provides new scientific insights and innovative ways of thinking based on expert critical perspectives on AI in science and society.” — @olivia.science @marentierra.bsky.social www.ru.nl/en/research/...

And unless many years of critical literature on emotion recognition theory is ignored again in computer science. How can correlations be "warm?

@katyahe.bsky.social might be relevant for your research agenda!

On Prolific, "we estimate that about 34% of online study participants use LLMs to answer open-ended questions atleast some of the time..."

Seems like a very timely paper for behavioural scientists using online samples: osf.io/preprints/so... ;

We really need more papers on this issue

Council serves legal notice against Raise the Colours Raise the Colours is banned from putting up flags across Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire County Council gave lRaise the Colours legal notice on Monday banning them from putting up flags across Oxfordshire

They acted after the group livestreamed themselves attaching England flags in Oxford with locals subjected to "abuse and threatening behaviour" when they challenged them

She Spoke Out About Gaza. Now She Can’t Use a Credit Card. After accusing governments and corporations of complicity in Gaza, the U.N. investigator for Palestinian territories now finds herself in Washington’s crosshairs.

Today in Court in the District of Columbia Francesca Albanese’s husband and daughter challenge US sanctions against her on free-speech grounds.

To Keep Climate Science Alive, Researchers Are Speaking in Code This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly...

Disturbing case study in censorship and self-censorship: climate scientists trying to do their work without using the word "climate".
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/to-keep...

#BannedWords #Censorship #Climate #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Come and work with my very excellent #philsci colleagues for a couple of years! For a better sense of what we get up to at Egenis, take a look around our website: www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen...

Kill Chain On the automated bureaucratic machinery that killed 175 children

"The constitutional question of who authorized this war and the legal question of whether this strike constitutes a war crime were displaced by a technical question that is easier to ask and impossible to answer in the terms it set. The Claude debate absorbed the energy" substack.com/home/post/p-...

This is one of the first case uses I’ve seen confirming that watermarking works - I’ve seen people proposing it as a thought experiment for uni assessments etc but never having trialled it.