Google has announced five commitments around water use at its data centers, including a pledge to replenish more water than it consumes by 2030. Lauren Feiner reports for The Verge that the company published the commitments in a blog post and is framing them as a model other data center operators could follow. Concern about …
Americans are increasingly mobilizing against data centers, the large warehouse-style facilities that power AI and much of the modern internet. Marina Bolotnikova writes for Vox that this grassroots revolt reflects deep anxiety about artificial intelligence rather than genuine ecological concern. A recent Gallup poll found that 70 percent of Americans would oppose a data center …
A new Gallup survey shows that opposition to data centers in the United States has reached a striking level. Seven out of ten Americans now oppose having a data center built near their home. Nearly half of those respondents say they strongly oppose such projects. Tim Craig reports for The Washington Post that more Americans …
AI data centers consume roughly 0.04 percent of all freshwater used in the United States each year. That figure, including both water used inside data centers and water used by power plants to generate their electricity, comes from Andy Masley, writing for his own publication. He argues that fears about AI draining water supplies are …
The spread of AI-generated content is causing a growing mental burden for ordinary internet users. Jason Koebler writes for 404 Media that the constant need to assess whether content is human or AI-generated is consuming significant cognitive energy and undermining trust across platforms. Koebler describes encountering AI-style writing in unexpected places, including a long-running personal …
AI chatbots from some of the world’s biggest tech companies can be manipulated into spreading misinformation through a simple technique. Thomas Germain reports for the BBC that a single, well-crafted blog post published almost anywhere online can be enough to influence what tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews tell the public. Germain …
A new study from Microsoft Research reveals that large language models (LLMs) silently corrupt documents during extended, multi-step workflows, often in ways that are nearly impossible for humans to detect. Ben Dickson reports for VentureBeat that even the best-performing AI models degrade an average of 25% of document content across these workflows. The research team …
A new licensing standard aims to give people control over how AI systems use their likenesses, creative works, characters, and designs. The Human Consent Standard allows individuals to grant full permission, set conditions, or block access entirely. The Verge reports, that this initiative is backed by Hollywood figures including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, …
The people training AI systems are not anonymous tech workers. Many are experienced professionals from industries decimated by the very technology they now help build. Ruth Fowler writes for Wired about her experience as a Hollywood screenwriter and showrunner who spent eight months working for AI training companies to pay her bills. Fowler describes a …
Gen Z is increasingly frustrated with artificial intelligence. New polling data and a growing number of firsthand accounts suggest that young people are not embracing AI as enthusiastically as tech companies have claimed. Instead, many are angry, anxious, and skeptical about where the technology is headed. A Gallup survey released by the Walton Family Foundation …