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Data centers meet resistance over environmental concerns as AI boom spreads in Latin America
An expert describes how communities in some of the world’s driest areas are demanding transparency as secretive governments court billions in foreign investment This Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian’s TechScape newsletter. Sign up for this weekly newsletter here. The data centers that power the artificial intelligence boom are beyond enormous. Their financials,…
Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows
Executives at world’s biggest datacenter owner grappled with disclosing information about water used to help power facilities Amazon strategised about keeping the public in the dark over the true extent of its datacentres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals. The biggest owner of datacentres in the world, Amazon dwarfs competitors Microsoft and Google and…
‘Little lungs are paying’: why the Dieselgate scandal is still running hot
Carmakers accused of cheating air pollution rules have faced little punishment in UK but trial brought by 1.6m motorists is about to begin “Little lungs are still paying for Dieselgate every day,” says Jemima Hartshorn, the founder of the Mums for Lungs campaign group. Her own young daughter has suffered serious breathing problems, which at…
AI ‘carries risks’ but will help tackle global heating, says UN’s climate chief
Simon Stiell insists it is vital governments regulate the technology to blunt its dangerous edges Harnessing artificial intelligence will help the world to tackle the climate crisis, but governments must step in to regulate the technology, the UN’s climate chief has said. AI is being used to make energy systems more efficient, and to develop…
Google’s huge new Essex datacentre to emit 570,000 tonnes of CO2 a year
Exclusive: Planning documents show impact of Thurrock ‘hyperscale’ unit as UK attempts to ramp up AI capacity Business live – latest updates A new Google datacentre in Essex is expected to emit more than half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year , equivalent to about 500 short-haul flights a week, planning documents show.…
Angela Rayner hit with legal challenge over datacentre on green belt land
Exclusive: Campaigners complain no environmental assessment made for 90MW Buckinghamshire facility The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has been hit with a legal challenge after she overruled a local council to approve a hyperscale datacentre on green belt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire. Campaigners bringing the action are complaining that no environmental impact assessment…
OpenAI will not disclose GPT-5’s energy use. It could be higher than past models
Experts working to benchmark resource use of AI models say new version’s enhanced capabilities come at a steep cost In mid-2023, if a user asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT for a recipe for artichoke pasta or instructions on how to make a ritual offering to the ancient Canaanite deity Moloch, its response might have taken – very…