Ars Technica
AI data centers need enormous amounts of electricity and water, and Amazon is promising more than $1 billion over five years for host communities, plus no higher power bills and no drained water supplies. Critics say the pledge ignores pollution from the gas plants and diesel backup generators that keep those sites running.
Summary written with AI by HowTechMoves, based on reporting by Ars Technica.
The Boston Globe
A developer wants to sink a data center to the seafloor off eastern Maine, powering it with the region's strong tides and using seawater to absorb the heat that servers produce. The early vision includes an 80-foot concrete frame, pressurized cylinders, up to 50 tidal turbines and a 1.5-mile cable to shore. Eastport has imposed a 180-day moratorium while residents raise concerns about the bay and its marine life.
CNBC
Modern AI models are trained on GPUs, the processors that crunch neural networks, and renting them beats buying. CNBC lists the options, from big clouds like Amazon, Microsoft and Google to newer GPU specialists called neoclouds, online marketplaces and direct purchases; an industry researcher counted 323 companies offering Nvidia GPU capacity in September, up from 209 under a year earlier.
Ars Technica
Data centers are buildings full of servers that many online services depend on, and the war in Ukraine has turned them into targets on both sides. Ukrainian drones damaged two of Yandex's five data centers, including a site that houses two of the three supercomputers used to train its YandexGPT AI model, and Russian users saw streaming, banking and railway apps disrupted.
Ars Technica
Data centers hold the servers and network equipment that keep phone and internet service running, which is why strikes on Kyiv's facilities since late September knocked out service for around 100,000 households at one point. Ukrainian officials say Russia's newer jet-powered drones are much harder to intercept than earlier models and are asking allies for more air defense before winter.