Trump says Microsoft will pay more for its datacenters’ electricity
Donald Trump said he is partnering with tech companies to ensure the large energy-hungry datacenters vital for AI do not drive up electricity bills in the US.On Tuesday, the US president announced that Microsoft was “first up”.“We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI.Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must ‘pay their own way.’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Thank you, and congratulations to Microsoft.”Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, outlined the company’s plan at an event on Tuesday near the White House titled Community-First AI Infrastructure.He said the initiative aimed to minimize water use and ensure that Microsoft’s electricity usage does not add to individuals’ utility rates.In towns where Microsoft has datacenters, he said, the company would pay its property taxes and accept neither tax reductions nor electricity rate discounts.“Like major buildouts of the past, AI infrastructure is expensive and complex,” Smith wrote in a blogpost on Tuesday.
“This revives a longstanding question: how can our nation build transformative infrastructure in a way that strengthens, rather than strains, the local communities where it takes root?”Trump has embraced AI during his second term in office, hosting tech CEOs at the White House and Mar-a-Lago.He has signed executive orders to deregulate AI, hasten innovation and ease environmental rules to expedite federal permitting for datacenters.But as concern over affordability and backlash against datacenters have rippled across the country, Trump seems to be modifying his stance.Trump said he was starting his electricity bill reduction plan with Microsoft but that he was also working with other major tech companies to make similar pledges.As datacenters have rapidly cropped up across the country, local communities have protested against the projects, saying the facilities are raising electricity costs, draining water resources and polluting neighborhoods.
The outrage is bipartisan – stretching from red states such as Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana to blue ones such as Oregon, California and New York.In rural Wisconsin, Microsoft scrapped plans for a new datacenter after community opposition that included concern over a surge in electricity rates.Datacenters consume vast amounts of power and water, and those facilities geared toward AI are especially intensive.One large-scale datacenter can use the same amount of electricity as a small city and consume as much as a million gallons of water per day.The International Energy Agency estimates total electricity from data centers worldwide could double through 2026 from 2022 levels – roughly equaling what is used by the entire country of Japan per year.
Microsoft has seen its carbon emissions grow by 23% since 2020 because of the multiplying of its AI datacenters,Other tech companies, including Google, Amazon and Meta, have also seen considerable increases in their emissions due to the boom in AI,
Labour revives Northern Powerhouse Rail project with pledge of £45bn funds
Long-awaited plans for better railways across the north of England have been given government backing with an undertaking to “reverse years of chronic underinvestment” by spending up to £45bn building Northern Powerhouse Rail.Just over £1bn has been allocated to work up a detailed three-stage plan to connect cities from Liverpool to Newcastle, which could fulfil most of the demands of northern leaders, in a series of long-term projects.However, mayors may have to raise local funding to pay for parts of the scheme, with the Treasury imposing a £45bn cap as it seeks to avoid the huge overspend that has blighted the construction of HS2.The government also “set out its intention” to build a Birmingham-Manchester line after the completion of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), although it insisted this was “not a reinstatement of HS2”.It said NPR would form the backbone of a wider growth plan, with faster, more frequent train services transforming connections between cities
Only shoppers can save a nation of shopkeepers | Letters
I fear that John Harris is partially buying into Reform UK’s rhetoric about the decline of the high street (The UK’s high streets have reached a tipping point – and Reform will reap the benefits, 11 January).The decline of small businesses in our high streets is largely the result of consumer choice. That’s why supermarkets exist. They sell goods more cheaply and have a range that would be equivalent to numerous shops. The majority of the population prefers to drive and do it all in one go, regardless of income
Musk’s AI tool Grok will be integrated into Pentagon networks, Hegseth says
Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that the US military will begin integrating Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool, Grok, into Pentagon networks.Speaking at the SpaceX headquarters in Texas on Monday evening, the US defense secretary said that the integration of Grok into military systems would go live later this month. “Very soon we will have the world’s leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department,” Hegseth said.Hegseth also unveiled a new “AI acceleration strategy” at the Department of Defense that he said will “unleash experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus on investments, and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead in military AI and that it grows more dominant into the future”.In December, it was announced that the defense department had selected Google’s Gemini, another AI model, to power the military’s new internal AI platform, known as GenAI
Can X be banned under UK law and what are the other options?
The UK government is threatening Elon Musk’s X with the nuclear option under the country’s online safety laws: a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers after it allowed the Grok AI tool, which is integrated within the app, to generate indecent images of unsuspecting women and children.The government has said it will support the media regulator Ofcom, which has launched an investigation into X, if it decides to push ahead with a ban. But is such a move likely?The Online Safety Act (OSA) contains a provision that allows Ofcom to seek a court order imposing “business disruption measures” on a website or app that is in breach of the legislation. These measures are in effect a block on the recipient operating in the UK
The hidden hierarchy of tennis practice courts: ‘I was back in the park, smelling the weed’
The unwritten rule in professional tournaments? Do not hog the practice court. But as leading players testify – the reality is very differentOn a cool Wednesday afternoon before the US Open last year, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev were busy fine-tuning their games in an intense practice set at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison, semi-finalists in the mixed doubles tournament, were scheduled to take their place at the hour and the American pair duly arrived a couple of minutes before their allotted slot.An amusing scene soon unfolded. Medvedev and Zverev were clearly desperate to continue playing for a little longer, but their court time had run out
Pittsburgh Steelers part ways with head coach Mike Tomlin after 19 seasons
Head coach Mike Tomlin is leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons, the team confirmed on Tuesday.“Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years. It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “He guided the franchise to our sixth Super Bowl championship and made the playoffs 13 times during his tenure, including winning the AFC North eight times in his career.”Rooney added that the decision was ultimately down to Tomlin, saying the head coach had “decided to step down”
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