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The AI race is already taking a toll. Ireland’s massive data centers are a cautionary tale

Dozens of massive data centers humming at the outskirts of Dublin are consuming more electricity than all of the urban homes in Ireland and starting to wear out the warm welcome that brought them here.

Now, a country that made itself a computing factory for Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok is wondering whether it was all worth it as tech giants look around the world t

AI 20: Evolution and equity

As decision-makers chart their course to meaningful efficiencies through AI, many still need clarification about the best strategies for achieving transparency, profit, and collaboration through this emerging and often complex tech.

At this virtual event, leading AI experts weighed in on the latest developments in generative AI beyond text and image generation, ethical AI consider

‘It pivoted into oblivion’: BuzzFeed sold off the company behind ‘Hot Ones’ to pay down its debt

A decade ago, BuzzFeed was redefining what news and entertainment on the web meant. The website’s mix of hard-hitting news, in-depth features, and viral listicles offered a vision of the future for journalism that many sought to follow. (I should know: I was a regular freelancer for the company.)

In 2014, BuzzFeed closed a $50 million round of investment from Andreessen Horowitz that valued the

What’s going to happen to the FTC’s ‘junk fees’ rule once Trump takes office?

President Joe Biden and his administration have spent years tackling what they call “junk fees,” which are mandatory fees that are not transparently disclosed to consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission issued a “junk fees” rule under Biden on Tuesday, expected to go into play in April just as the Trump administration is ramping up its plans for the next four year

How OpenAI’s Jerry Tworek found a new way forward for large language models

The impressive intelligence gains in OpenAI’s models over time have mainly come from training them with progressively more training data, for longer amounts of time, and with massive computing power. But in 2024 new training data has become scarce and it’s become very expensive to further scale up computing power, so AI labs have sought new ways to continue pushing models toward

‘Through snow, rain, and sunshine’: Two TikTokers just completed a 76-day cross-country trek by skateboard

Two lifelong skateboarders rolled into New York City’s Times Square on Saturday, completing their cross-country odyssey that started from Los Angeles’s Venice Beach, and traveled all 1,600 miles exclusively on their boards.

Jason VanPorppal, who goes by Jay, and his friend Orio Ramirez, both 25, kicked it off September 30, with VanPorppal posting daily updates to his

These 5 clever mapping upstarts do what Google Maps can’t

Look, Google Maps is fine. It’s arguably even great—probably one of the most-opened apps on lots of our phones and absolutely one of the most indispensable.

But for as good as Google Maps can be when it comes to helping us navigate the physical world

Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright faces contempt of court in $1.2 trillion lawsuit

An Australian computer scientist who claimed he invented bitcoin was on Friday accused of contempt of court after he filed a 911 billion-pound ($1.18 trillion) lawsuit against Twitter founder Jack Dorsey‘s payments firm Block in Britain.

Craig Wright claimed to have been the author of the foundational text of bitcoin published under the pseudonym “Sato

Snapchat is overhauling how influencers earn money on the platform

“I’m sorry WHO is using snapchat in the big year of 2024,” one X user asked. Turns out, a lot of people, and for some it’s proving lucrative. 

Influencer Julieanna Goddard, better known as YesJulz, recently posted her impressive Snapchat earnings to social media in response to the question. The 34-year-old revealed that she brings in thousands of

4 gains Big Tech is hoping for in Trump’s second term

In a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges, and social media overtures, big tech chiefs—including Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos—have joined a parade of business and world leaders in trying to improve their standing with President-elect Donald Trum


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