AI trends 2026

2,802 Comments

1. July 18, 2026 at 10:21 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   When people raise concerns about data centers contaminating water, they are usually talking about three specific risk areas: cooling chemicals, thermal pollution, and the emerging concern over “forever chemicals” (PFAS).

   ​Data centers are not chemical factories or refineries; they don’t produce toxic waste as a byproduct of a manufacturing process.

   As long as the facility strictly adheres to industrial wastewater treatment laws, the water is handled safely. The danger only arises when corners are cut, filters aren’t maintained, or local municipal treatment plants become overwhelmed by the sudden volume.

   Reply
2. July 18, 2026 at 11:12 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1jiAK1fuW8/

   Jeff Bezos has drawn attention to an increasingly discussed challenge surrounding artificial intelligence: the enormous amount of water required to cool the powerful data centers that run advanced AI systems. As AI adoption accelerates worldwide, experts have warned that the infrastructure supporting these technologies could place additional pressure on local water supplies in certain regions.

   Modern AI models require massive computing resources, and many facilities depend on water-based cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating. Researchers have increasingly examined how expanding AI infrastructure may affect energy consumption, environmental sustainability, and access to natural resources.

   The discussion has prompted calls for greater investment in more efficient cooling technologies and environmentally responsible data center designs. While artificial intelligence promises major advances across industries, many experts believe long-term growth will also require careful planning to reduce its environmental footprint. Balancing technological progress with sustainable resource management is expected to remain an important challenge in the years ahead.

   Reply
3. July 18, 2026 at 11:58 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   https://www.facebook.com/share/1LKC9SFJ5D/

   Artificial intelligence is driving one of the largest infrastructure booms in history, with tech companies investing hundreds of billions of dollars to build new AI data centers. While this expansion is accelerating AI development, it is also increasing costs across the technology industry.

   This year, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are expected to invest around $720 billion, much of it in AI infrastructure. The massive demand for servers, semiconductors, and memory chips is putting pressure on global supply chains.

   According to JPMorgan, some memory chip prices could increase by up to 400% between 2024 and the end of 2026 as demand continues to outpace supply. These higher component costs are making electronics more expensive to manufacture.

   Consumers are already seeing the effects. Apple has raised prices for some MacBook and iPad models by around 15% to 25%, Microsoft increased Xbox prices by $100, and companies including Sony, Dell, and HP have also announced price increases on selected products.

   AI data centers are also consuming large amounts of electricity, increasing pressure on power grids. U.S. electricity prices rose 5.9% year over year in May, and Goldman Sachs expects power prices to continue climbing through 2028, meaning AI’s rapid growth could affect both technology prices and household electricity bills.

   Reply
4. July 18, 2026 at 11:59 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   The global semiconductor industry is dealing with a severe, structural memory chip shortage. While high-end AI GPUs (like NVIDIA’s Blackwell architectures) and cutting-edge CPUs remain highly sought after, the underlying crisis squeezing the entire supply chain is a lack of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and standard memory wafers.
   China is actively stepping up to help relieve the global memory shortage, but with a specific caveat: they are fixing the commoditized supply, not the high-end AI supply.
   ​As Western and South Korean giants (Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix) shift their factory capacity toward lucrative High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI data centers, a massive deficit has opened up in standard memory. Chinese memory chipmakers are aggressively filling that void.

   Reply
5. July 18, 2026 at 12:08 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GnkMVy2ut/

   Trump praised data centers as engines of jobs and revenue – all while his own neighbors in Palm Beach said no to a major project.

   The president criticized New York’s new one-year pause on large data centers, arguing that the facilities will be major drivers of future jobs and revenue.

   On Truth Social, Trump described data centers as “cash cows” for the communities that host them and called New York’s decision a “terrible” mistake.

   But on the same day, commissioners in Palm Beach County, Florida, voted 5-1 against a proposed expansion of a large AI data center campus.

   The project is located in the same county as Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and had faced months of local opposition.

   Developers had already received approval for 1.2 million square feet of warehouses and a 206,000-square-foot data center. Their latest proposal sought to expand the site to roughly 3.6 million square feet.

   The commission rejected the application without prejudice, meaning the developers may return with a revised proposal.

   The vote highlights the growing divide over data centers across the United States.

   Supporters argue that the facilities bring construction jobs, tax revenue and investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

   Opponents worry about their enormous electricity demand, water use, noise, land consumption and potential impact on utility bills.

   The contrast is especially striking: Trump is urging states to welcome data centers at the same moment officials in his own backyard are refusing a major expansion.

   Learn more:
   “Trump Praises ‘Cash Cow’ Data Centers as His Neighbors Reject Major Project.” Newsweek

   Reply
6. July 18, 2026 at 12:18 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Its mortality rate is greater than 30 percent. https://trib.al/VVQCm4l

   Pipes Dreams
   Meta’s AI Data Center Caught Leaking Deadly Bacteria Into Water Town Uses for Irrigation
   “This isn’t something we normally test for.”
   https://futurism.com/health-medicine/meta-ai-data-center-pathogen-bacteria-water?fbclid=IwdGRjcATIPzdjbGNrBMg_H2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHoNBMeacctX2UFcGo10WUAPW9U_PR6Y-Kn5AGGtRu2wnEYHj3iHyfB-Iuqw1_aem_IroiyT0TQLftK5OprugTIg

   With public anger at AI data centers boiling over, all it takes is one bad neighbor to get every data center in town locked out.

   That’s the story unfolding in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where local officials are revoking waste-dumping privileges for every data center campus connected to municipal water services. As Cowboy State Daily reported, the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities has rolled out a sweeping ban on fill-and-flush discharge, the process in which data centers flood their cooling systems with water before powering up for the first time.

   That decision came after one bad actor, the Meta-affiliated data center company Goat Systems LLC, flooded local waste water pipes with fill-and-flush swill containing a rare and deadly bacterium known as Cupriavidus gilardii. Per Cowboy State, Goat Systems was found to be in “significant noncompliance” with Cheyenne’s industrial waste regulations after a months-long investigation traced the bacteria to Meta’s discharge.

   “This isn’t something we normally test for,” Frank Strong, Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities engineering and water resource division manager told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle of the investigation. Strong noted that the bacterium was first spotted during routine testing for fecal contamination

   Cupriavidus is a little-known, multidrug-resistant pathogen. Though human infection is extremely rare, it has nonetheless been linked to ten deaths

   According to one review of Cupriavidus cases, the bacterial infection has a mortality rate of 31.3 percent, out of a sample size of 32 known infections dating back to 2009.

   “As soon as we became aware of the bacteria, and then of where it was coming from, we shut them down immediately,”

   Reply
7. July 18, 2026 at 12:22 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   The danger of data center cooling tower chemicals is less about “super-toxic poisons” and more about environmental mismanagement at scale. They are standard industrial water treatment chemicals

   To keep massive cooling loops from clogging, rusting, or breeding dangerous bacteria, data centers dose the water with three main types of additives:
   ​Biocides and Algaecides (High Ecological Danger): Data centers frequently use strong oxidizing biocides (like bromine, chlorine dioxide, or ozone) to prevent algae growth and kill Legionella bacteria in the warm piping. While these protect human health on-site, they are highly toxic to aquatic life if they leak into local streams before losing their potency.
   Corrosion Inhibitors (Moderate Chemical Danger): Formulations containing heavy phosphates or specialized polymer complexes are used to keep metal pipes from rusting. If discharged directly into natural water systems, high concentrations of phosphates cause eutrophication—triggering massive, toxic algal blooms that choke out oxygen and suffocate fish.
   ​Leached Heavy Metals (Accumulative Danger): As the water constantly scours the inside of the cooling system, it acts as a mild solvent. Over time, trace amounts of heavy metals like copper, zinc, or nickel scrape off the heat sinks and piping. These build up in the wastewater (known as “blowdown”) and can bioaccumulate in local wildlife.

   For Humans (Low Risk)
   ​For the people working inside the facility or living nearby, the danger is very low. The chemicals are heavily diluted while circulating in the system. The primary human risk is to the HVAC technicians who handle the raw, concentrated chemicals during maintenance, which requires standard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
   ​For the Environment (High Risk if Untreated)
   ​The real danger happens if blowdown water is mishandled. Because evaporation concentrates the minerals and chemicals left behind, this wastewater must be handled carefully.

   The Legal Reality: Under environmental laws like the Clean Water Act, data centers are strictly prohibited from dumping this water into storm drains or local rivers. They must either treat it using on-site filtration or route it to municipal sewage plants equipped to handle industrial wastewater.

   The New Threat: Immersion Cooling & PFAS

   ​While standard water loops carry manageable chemical risks, the industry’s shift toward immersion cooling (dunking servers directly into specialized dielectric liquids to cool hot AI chips) introduces a new variable.
   ​Some two-phase immersion systems have relied on fluorinated fluids classified as PFAS (“forever chemicals”). If these fluid loops suffer a structural leak, the PFAS can leach into the groundwater table.

   Because PFAS do not break down naturally and accumulate in human tissue, this is currently considered the most politically and environmentally sensitive chemical risk in modern data centers.

   Reply
8. July 18, 2026 at 12:23 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C6qHsmD2Q/

   Cooling the AI Engines

   The energy and water demands of artificial intelligence are pushing data centers to rethink how they cool the hardware behind the digital age. As AI models get more complex, the chips running them throw off heat that ordinary air conditioning can’t manage anymore. Most data centers still lean on evaporative cooling, which can burn through billions of gallons of water a year just to keep servers from overheating. That water use has become a real obstacle to growing the industry further.

   A Sustainable Cooling Revolution

   New cooling designs cut out the need for constant water refills by running on a closed loop. Heat from the chips transfers into a liquid coolant that moves through cold plates built into the hardware. That coolant then travels to a heat exchanger, where the heat passes into the air outside. The loop repeats on its own, and the liquid never leaves the system, so facilities can run with close to zero water waste.

   Unprecedented Performance and Efficiency

   Liquid cooling does more than cut water use. It lets engineers pack hardware more tightly, since liquid moves heat away far better than air does. Some of the gains:

   * Fans and pumps need much less power to run.
   * Chips can handle thermal loads above one thousand watts.
   * Data centers need less physical space for the same computing output.
   * Utility bills drop over the life of the hardware.

   Transforming Global Infrastructure

   Rolling out these cooling systems at scale changes what digital infrastructure costs the environment. Without evaporative systems losing water to the air, data centers can go up in places where water scarcity used to rule out high performance computing. AI can keep advancing without draining local water supplies or straining the communities around it.

   The Path to Greener Computing

   This is a real shift in how the industry handles growth. As next generation processors become standard, pairing liquid cooling with air based heat exchange will likely become common practice. Computing power stops being tied to how much water and energy it burns through. That’s the blueprint for building AI infrastructure that doesn’t cost the planet to run.

   Facts checked by @things

   Sources:
   NVIDIA Newsroom
   Data Center Dynamics
   Reuters

   #things #NVIDIA #LiquidCooling #AI #Sustainability

   Reply
9. July 18, 2026 at 12:39 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Don’t be fooled by the term “closed loop cooling”. They want you to believe that solves all the problems associated with cooling. The water (coolant) may be closed in the sense that it is recirculated & only requires occasional flushing or topped-off. The entire cooling “system” however, must lose the heat absorbed by the water as it circulated thru the servers, & that heat is dumped into the environment – generally the atmosphere. It is comparable to the cooling system of any car using an internal combustion engine – the radiator dumps the heat into the air. It is these heat exchangers used by the data-centers that are causing problems in two respects.
   1. The high-pitched annoying noise produced by the fans
   2. Most of the electrical power used is converted to heat by the servers, a much smaller amount by circulator pumps, fans, lights… Even a small, hyper-scale center using 100 mega-watt hrs of power must discharge heat every hour equivalent to that required to heat 3400 homes on the coldest winter days in the upper Midwest (based on 100,000 Btu/hr). Scaled up for a 1 giga-watt center, the number is 34,000 homes, every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year! 34000! Certainly won’t help slowdown global warming!
   “Closed loop cooling” doesn’t solve either of these problems.

   Reply
10. July 18, 2026 at 2:32 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sophie-cunningham-speaks-dumb-data-173254521.html

    Reply
11. July 18, 2026 at 2:36 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    What happens when AI moves from thinking to acting in the real world? Find out more: https://reut.rs/4w2Nv9R

    Produced for TDK by Reuters Plus

    https://plus.reuters.com/tdk-body-of-ai/p/1?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=TDK-1520526&utm_id=52620184407092&fbclid=IwdGRjcATIX_RleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQAAC_cPJlG1HNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHibl3HEeJdi5-EvbxNfmFAstZNq24_2PNDZuXWbz9BVrGKpMuJE3U-7SdsVJ_aem_SvogMCVr4Agyh2nr-lr0Tg

    Reply
12. July 18, 2026 at 5:37 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    The evidence is damning. https://trib.al/yGEzTSg

    Cursed Playlists
    Hackers Expose How AI Music App Suno Stole Decades Worth of Copyrighted Music
    The evidence is damning.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/hacker-ai-music-suno-copyright?fbclid=IwdGRjcATIim1jbGNrBMiKX2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHrg313ALE8NzjiBrBJ8aCWxE9lo1eSdGsmF2U9vU4Pdsjcec5IC_Rpt7gYNG_aem__koPS8BnWVoha_uQ-qfjxg

    Reply
13. July 18, 2026 at 7:53 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    It’s a problem decades in the making. https://trib.al/0rh7Hi4

    Bill Me
    Data Centers Are Making Electricity Brutally Expensive for the Public
    It’s a problem decades in the making.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/data-centers-electricity-ai-public-utility-rates?fbclid=IwdGRjcATIqYZjbGNrBMipamV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHmFAUWPCJZOvESE4kqIaFCZkmlksnVnzvjQdVuX5KHa-T4HG5louwGSX8hyd_aem_uiMoAGf-gEhEmA2VMSnNgA

    Despite a financial situation more reminiscent of a Ponzi scheme than a technological revolution, the data center boom is continuing at a rapid pace, bringing novel kinds of biological contamination, ear-splitting noise, and unprecedented levels of pollution to communities across the US.

    Those environmental burdens also come with a financial one: skyrocketing demand for electricity, which is increasing the cost of utilities for renters and homeowners alike.

    According to a report by Monitoring Analytics, an independent monitor for the largest transmission company in the US, PJM, data center demand is expected to drive over $23 billion in customer price increases by 2028. That eye-watering figure, first spotted by Fortune, is a direct result of the country’s old and confusing electrical infrastructure, which ultimately leaves regular people, not the tech industry, holding the bag.

    Whether they’re data centers, factories, or other large facilities, Fortune points out that local regulators and transmission companies like PJM have a hard time figuring out who’s responsible for rising energy demand.

    While a small power line from a data center campus to a nearby substation is easily billed to the data center, figuring out who to invoice gets harder further on down the line, particularly with shared infrastructure like the substation itself, or the long-distance transmission lines connecting to it.

    Because many utility companies charge based on a system of “peak demand” — a measure of a customer’s energy usage at the exact moment the collective grid hits peak demand — data centers have gotten into the habit of scaling down right when the grid measures highest demand.

    This is more or less the scenario that played out in a Bitcoin mining operation in Texas, where the company Riot Platforms agreed to cut its power use on hot summer days, only to ramp back up massively at night. In exchange, the company negotiated for a lower flat electricity rate overall, and even snagged some state subsidies meant to encourage responsible energy use.

    Load-shifting like this can genuinely help the grid, but it also means companies with the ability to game the system get rewarded with subsides that an average household will never get. And because companies are merely changing when they suck their juice — not how — subsidized load-shifting ends up being a poor strategy for reducing electrical use overall.

    And while data centers are just the most contemporary example of this practice, the shrewd manipulation of US energy markets by for-profit corporations dates back decades.

    Reply
14. July 18, 2026 at 7:54 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ever Upward
    New York Becomes First State to Ban AI Data Centers
    “When companies succeed because of New York, New Yorkers succeed too.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/new-york-hochul-executive-order-ban-ai-data-centers?fbclid=IwVERDUATIqmpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5_TV7R94sZ4dBLZlpNVYRUMKAB9VHcDAwD_OzuphVaNCFpcukveKTANKAuDA_aem_hrjNxD0q7tUJIogzrdp9RQ

    Across the United States, lawmakers are increasingly caught between two competing pressures: the massive investment flowing into the tech industry to build AI data centers, and a growing, bipartisan backlash against those same facilities, not to mention the massive tech corporations funding them.

    In New York, governor Kathy Hochul is giving in to the former — at least on paper — by announcing a one-year, state-wide ban on new AI data center construction for facilities with an electrical capacity of 50 megawatts and up.

    Reply
15. July 18, 2026 at 7:57 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DNKrukkPB/

    America’s largest power grid operator is asking for new emergency authority over large data centers.
    PJM Interconnection serves 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C.
    It wants the ability to temporarily shift major data centers onto backup generators during extreme grid stress.
    The proposal comes as a heat dome pushed electricity demand toward peak levels.
    Hyperscale AI data centers can consume 100 to 500 megawatts each.
    That is enough power to rival the electricity use of hundreds of thousands of homes.
    Grid operators say the move could help protect reliability during emergencies.
    Critics say it shows how quickly AI infrastructure is reshaping America’s power system.
    Should AI data centers be required to help support the grid during peak demand?

    PJM granted emergency approval to curtail data centers due to hot weather concerns
    Will only impact data centers and large loads with backup generation
    https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/pjm-granted-emergency-approval-to-curtail-data-centers-due-to-hot-weather-concerns/

    Reply
16. July 18, 2026 at 8:22 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Can’t be mitigated? Assuming that’s what you mean, sure they can!

    Power – make them have their own power source or enough to supplement against daytime demand.

    Water – closed loop cooling, that’s easy.

    Noise – sound proofing on everything, but especially just not building near residential areas.

    Reply
17. July 18, 2026 at 8:30 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18xQ6Zq5Wf/

    Americans across party lines are uniting against data centers.

    A new Gallup poll found that 71% of Americans oppose constructing AI data centers in their local area, including nearly half who say they are strongly opposed.

    Only 26% support having one built nearby.

    The findings come as communities across the United States push back against large AI data center projects over concerns about electricity demand, water consumption, environmental impacts, noise, and rising utility bills.

    Among those who oppose new facilities, the most common concern is the enormous amount of resources they require. Many also worry about pollution, increased traffic, changes to their communities, and higher living costs.

    Those who support new data centers are far more likely to cite economic benefits, particularly new jobs and increased tax revenue.

    The survey also found stronger opposition to AI data centers than to building a nuclear power plant nearby.

    As artificial intelligence continues to expand, technology companies are racing to build more data centers to power AI models and cloud computing. But Gallup says public resistance has become one of the biggest obstacles to that expansion, with growing grassroots campaigns challenging projects across the country.

    Learn more:
    “Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area.” Gallup

    Reply
18. July 18, 2026 at 8:38 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Obviously a new group of people who have an agenda against new technology but use it every day of their lives.

    A bit like the Greenies who owns fossil fuelled vehicles and still depend on the national grid to provide energy to fuel all their modern toys and appliances.

    Reply
19. July 18, 2026 at 8:42 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Data centers hysteria, the great distraction.

    Reply
20. July 18, 2026 at 9:29 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://info.themastermind.com.au/the-ai-first-company?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=52578855184913&utm_content=Book+on+Boardroom+Table+|+1490296589229285&utm_term=Foundation+Adset+|+WW&campaign_id=52578855184913&campaign_name=The+AI+First+Company+Book&adset_id=52625518533313&adset_name=Foundation+Adset+|+WW&ad_id=52625518534113&ad_name=Book+on+Boardroom+Table+|+1490296589229285&placement=Facebook_Mobile_Feed&ad_network=facebook&fbclid=Iwb21leAS61AtleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQAAC_c1Yt3kXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHtNoCNmtTwAoHiFkruhRy_xaikYpTJER4UCwR6JCHeU-4BwrkpcNeC7v421B_aem_INgUjXZauY1tG2V_rb0utQ&utm_id=52625518533313_v2_s08_e7681

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21. July 18, 2026 at 9:31 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.dna.fi/wholesale/blogi/-/blogs/finlands-data-centre-viability-strengthened-by-the-nordic-edge?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=LAA-artikkeli-finlands-data-centre-viability-strengthened-by-the-nordic-edge&utm_campaign=P_LAA_26-27-31_artikkelikampanja_enkku&fbclid=Iwb21leAS7f1dleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQBqzaiZGdBjHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHh0z2uN_Az3iFw3Rz4tANs678w8jOL-7CoRT1tx2k1IFmB_esypaX5eSMNAV_aem_0OpqPz4BPDXiLOxy0bMerA&utm_id=120249885982470556&utm_term=120249885982500556

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22. July 18, 2026 at 9:32 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Copilot goes cheap as Microsoft phases out OpenAI and Anthropic models to cut costs
    https://the-decoder.com/copilot-goes-cheap-as-microsoft-phases-out-openai-and-anthropic-models-to-cut-costs/

    Reply
23. July 18, 2026 at 10:24 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Grok has a massive deepfake problem. https://trib.al/3M6SPT5

    Cat and Grok
    Elon Musk’s xAI, Which is Being Sued Over AI-Generated Sexual Deepfakes, Sues Grok User Over AI-Generated Sexual Deepfakes
    Grok has a massive deepfake problem.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/elon-musk-xai-sues-grok-user-deepfakes?fbclid=IwdGRjcATIzKxjbGNrBMjMj2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHlkyma6X0h8yzdatW9uSan0NulxamX-nRBdrgQ4bpmWmLmgY0COt_SMi7z09_aem_PiiPva45ZsTn8t-mXrjm7A

    Elon Musk’s xAI is suing a man for using its flagship chatbot, Grok, to create nonconsensual sexual deepfakes of women and children.

    The lawsuit follows a massive deepfake scandal that unfolded over the winter, as X users realized that Grok — which had been updated with a new photo and video-editing feature — could be used to quickly and easily alter images to artificially undress real people and depict them in sexual positions.

    The Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated that during an 11-day period, Grok “generated an estimated 3 million sexualized images, including 23,000 of children.”

    Now, as it sues one of its users for the creation of illegal content, xAI is fighting multiple lawsuits over Grok-generated CSAM.

    In another high-profile case, the former conservative influencer (and mother to one of Musk’s many children) Ashley St. Clair sued xAI after she was aggressively targeted by sexualized deepfakes, including one depicting her as a minor.

    Law enforcement professionals and child online safety experts say that AI has led to an overwhelming and disorienting new flood of CSAM, as Bloomberg detailed in a devastating report earlier this year. It’s also created a host of new challenges for those attempting to find and arrest child predators, as AI has made it more difficult for investigators to determine whether a child depicted in abuse material is real or AI-generated.

    In its latest lawsuit, xAI accuses Harwood of engaging in a “calculated scheme to weaponize Plaintiff’s ⁠tool ​for criminal ends, exposing real victims to profound ​and lasting harm, while exposing Plaintiff to significant legal risk and reputational damage.”

    xAI — which is now owned by SpaceX and has since been renamed to SpaceXAI — also alleges that it “enforces its rules ​against violators through account suspensions, account terminations, and by reporting suspected child sexual abuse ‌material ⁠to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” or NCMEC. It also claims that xAI “has suspended 52,222 accounts and made 73,604 reports to NCMEC in 2026, resulting in (at least) 244 arrests.”

    But despite its best efforts, it’s clear that the startup still has a serious deepfake problem. If a user is engaging in deeply disturbing criminal activity using a company’s service, it’s reasonable for a company to hold them to account. But suing users doesn’t fix a chatbot’s failing guardrails, facilitating their crimes.

    Reply
24. July 18, 2026 at 10:27 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Great Leap Forward
    A Chinese AI Model Just Shot to Number One on the Charts, Sending Shockwaves Through the American Tech Industry
    US tech execs are shaking in their boots.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chinese-ai-kimi-moonshot-benchmark-claude-chatgpt?fbclid=IwVERDUATIzdBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5kW9TBbM4ZFE_GsNXzyZRqM04PmE9mP4ww5WJUskD6FymGJnq1G5B1Ls3LBw_aem_6298hdNm2CVSf655tTx1kw

    While Wall Street was fast asleep, a Chinese-made large language model quietly leapfrogged 16 other models to become number one on the AI charts.

    The model is called Kimi-K3, developed by Beijing-based firm Moonshot AI. On Thursday, the AI benchmark platform Arena.ai announced that Kimi had gone from number 17 in the “Frontend Code Arena” — a measure of an LLM’s ability to perform multi-step web development tasks — to number one, surpassing the buzzy Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol by a mile.

    Just like DeepSeek, a similar Chinese AI model that rankled the US stock market last year, Kimi is an open-weight model, meaning its inner workings are viewable to the public.

    Compared to proprietary models like GPT-5.6 that are kept under lock and key, open models cost users on average six times less, though their performance has historically been ever-so-slightly worse than their closed counterparts.

    “When the best open weight model exceeds the best closed-source model, how does [Anthropic] justify its Fable pricing? Why would anyone pay for that?”

    Even before Kimi-K3 dropped, the proposition of paying up to six times more for the slight performance boost offered by closed models was already pushing US companies toward Chinese AI. Now that the performance gap is closing fast, there’s even less reason for companies or individuals to pay exorbitant prices associated with Silicon Valley’s frontier models.

    That simple math is bad news for the US tech industry, which has spent years insisting that it will take trillions of dollars to make AI work.

    Reply
25. July 19, 2026 at 8:53 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    In some industries, three in four jobs are at risk of being replaced by AI automation
    Read more: https://trib.al/iJNJEFZ

    Sorry, graduates, AI will decimate the UK’s job market – skilled trades are now the only sure thing
    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/ai-unemployment-jobs-trades-skills-b3016810.html

    With three in four jobs in finance and the creative industries at risk of being replaced by AI automation, we need to continue to push apprenticeships in plumbing, rather than a degree, as something to reach for and celebrate, writes Chris Blackhurst

    Reply
26. July 20, 2026 at 9:08 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    As AI companies scramble to keep their systems online, their inefficiency is costing the rest of us, Alex Reisner argues.
    https://theatln.tc/gCsuLu9L

    The efforts to scale large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude will require so many resources that tech companies may be purchasing 70 percent of the world’s supply of high-end computer memory. Because of that, “the prices of computer memory and storage are skyrocketing,” Reisner writes—and there may be no end in sight.

    The memory is being put into data centers, which tech firms are expanding at incredible speed. “The demand for electricity at these sites is already so great that some companies are repurposing jet engines to power them,” Reisner continues.

    “The problem is not simply that AI is being deployed so widely or quickly,” Reisner argues. “Other computer technologies have seen similarly massive growth without triggering such a large spike in electricity or a shortage of computer components.” Video and music, for instance, are now streamed around the globe, accounting for many terabytes of internet traffic daily; the smartphone boom required the manufacturing of billions of devices that are now transferring huge amounts of data.

    What makes generative AI different—and more problematic—is that it does not scale properly, Reisner argues.

    Reply
27. July 20, 2026 at 10:15 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    One-year construction ban will apply to data centers using 50 megawatts or more in New York
    https://www.reuters.com/world/new-york-becomes-first-state-impose-data-center-moratorium-2026-07-14/

    Reply
28. July 20, 2026 at 12:39 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    As soon as people spoke to ELIZA 60 years ago, they wanted it to be their friend

    I spoke to the first ever AI chatbot – they’ve been deluding people from the beginning
    https://www.independent.co.uk/author/liam-murphy-robledo?fbclid=IwVERDUATK559leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5VyqfLp53IWUYDpKygwnNVu0cXiqnsH_cVOGwxYrrB9Tt6RbHpKBsR06a7JA_aem_LYI0Ut0VhJ6U2Ynj21u2aQ

    As millions share their deepest secrets with Claude and ChatGPT, Liam Murphy-Robledo goes back to the source – a 1966 experiment gone wrong. He speaks to the original ELIZA chatbot and discovers the vital difference between it and the bots we

    Reply
29. July 20, 2026 at 1:29 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    “We must join forces and resist the anti-democratic power of this small group of the very wealthiest.” https://trib.al/PYp4t1b

    Partial Meltdown
    Climate Activists Pelt Microsoft Data Center With Balloons Full of Acid
    “We must join forces and resist the anti-democratic power of this small group of the very wealthiest.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/climate-activists-microsoft-ai-data-center-acid-balloons?fbclid=IwdGRjcATK8sJjbGNrBMrydWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHieckUb1E07WhxDq1O05RAysrI0ArVqlmAs_-XGMbSTg3OWaEtqj3_pDUDtZ_aem_nsWrvASIe5WPzsw2pVvHtA

    As the public backlash to AI data centers continues to escalate, activists are resorting to extreme measures to send home an important message.

    The growing concern over environmentally damaging, yet rapidly growing, data centers has become an international phenomenon. In Amsterdam, climate activists affiliated with the group Extinction Rebellion claimed responsibility for some unique vandalism against a Microsoft data center construction project. According to the Register, the protestors filled water balloons with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, salt, and acrylic paint before hucking them at the facility.

    “This acidic mixture attacks concrete, and the hydrogen peroxide causes steel to rust faster,” Extinction Rebellion said in a statement.

    What physical impact the balloons had on the data center itself is unknown, but it may be beside the point. Extinction Rebellion often uses nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action to draw attention to climate issues that would otherwise be ignored. Previous actions involved spattering the offices of fossil fuel insurers with foul smelling butyric acid, and using superglue and bicycle locks to barricade the entrance of Lloyd’s, a major insurance market in London.

    As targets for climate activism go, data centers are a no-brainer. The facilities underlining the AI boom are a major driver of carbon emissions due to their intense energy demand, and likewise cause major problems with local water supplies.

    In the post-action statement, Extinction Rebellion argues that the data center in question is weaponizing a loophole “to circumvent the rules banning so-called ‘hyperscalers,’” and will “consume a gigantic amount of power in an area that already suffers from power shortages.”

    In addition to local concerns around electricity usage and climate impacts, Extinction Rebellion connects their action to the data center’s future tenant, Microsoft, which international rights groups argue played an instrumental role in Israel’s destruction of Gaza.

    Reply
30. July 20, 2026 at 1:30 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FdQbq4p9V/

    Tech leaders have started hiring armed bodyguards to protect themselves as AI backlash in the U.S. surges.

    The friction surrounding artificial intelligence has officially breached the digital world, manifesting as real-world security emergencies for Silicon Valley’s elite. What once existed as online debate has devolved into physical danger, with police responding to a surge of violent threats targeting tech workers and property.

    High-profile incidents—including an attempted firebombing at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and a security breach at Anthropic where an intruder warned of an assassination plot—have forced AI firms to severely bolster personal security, leaving executives traveling with armed guards.

    At the root of this volatility is deep economic anxiety and a sense of powerlessness among everyday workers facing displacement. Massive restructurings and layoffs have left many feeling cast aside by what they perceive as a new class of unchecked tech ‘kings’. As communities battle the rapid expansion of resource-heavy data centers and workers push back against corporate automation, the widening divide between Silicon Valley and the public is increasingly characterized not by awe, but by anger and self-defense.

    source: Ellis, L., Elinson, Z., & Li, T. (2026). The AI Backlash Has Tech Executives Fearing for Their Lives. The Wall Street Journal.

    Reply
31. July 20, 2026 at 3:19 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/share/194cHZUSkq/

    Most Americans are becoming increasingly concerned that the rapid expansion of AI data centers could lead to higher electricity bills. Recent surveys show that many people believe these massive facilities are putting extra pressure on the power grid and increasing energy costs for households.

    A Morning Consult survey found that 67% of U.S. voters believe data centers are at least partly responsible for rising electricity prices. Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center survey reported that 38% of Americans think AI data centers negatively affect household energy costs, while only 6% believe they provide a financial benefit.

    AI data centers operate thousands of high-performance servers 24 hours a day to power services like chatbots, cloud computing, and machine learning. These facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity and often require large volumes of water to keep their equipment cool.

    As electricity demand grows, energy experts warn that power generation may struggle to keep pace. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate the United States could face a 38-gigawatt power shortfall for data centers by 2028 unless new energy infrastructure is added.

    For many families already dealing with rising living expenses, higher electricity bills are a growing concern. While AI technology offers significant benefits, many Americans worry that one of its hidden costs could be increased monthly utility bills unless investments in the power grid and energy production keep up with demand.

    Sources:
    Morning Consult – Morgan Stanley Research Note – 2026
    Sunrun Homeowner Survey – 2025
    Pew Research Center – 2026

    Reply
32. July 20, 2026 at 5:49 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    “I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we don’t want this.” https://trib.al/fziUrkt

    Lorde Knows
    Spotify Doubles Down on AI Slop As It’s Being Flooded With It
    “I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we don’t want this.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/spotify-ai-slop-lorde?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLMCVjbGNrBMswEmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHpST3hxoioXM3uRUtzZ9x6DmN2cy2F7UKMspkmTI9lAlsIiIaL_4G-AH-8La_aem_mo4wn6jUoXEPDnGskB3Lyw

    Spotify, like pretty much every other digital platform, has been grappling with a torrent of low-quality AI-generated content flooding its streaming service.

    The deluge has resulted in cheap-and-fast AI-generated music infiltrating algorithmic playlists and even charting. The slop has led to artists — including dead musicians — being impersonated by AI-powered squatters.

    “The low-effort content you see where it’s mass-produced, it’s mass uploaded, it’s AI slop… we’ve removed over 75 million spammy tracks in the last year,” Spotify executive Sam Duboff recently told the Australian Financial Review, adding that AI has “taken existing spam tactics and taken them to a new level.”

    Yet, as Spotify fights to keep its platform from being strangled by AI slop, it’s also moved to incorporate multiple AI features, like AI playlists and Spotify’s AI “DJ,” into its platform. And this week, one of Spotify’s AI features made for a frustrating situation for a top artist.

    Reply
33. July 20, 2026 at 6:29 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    ““At this point, they’re like a fancy paper weight.” https://trib.al/E2JKa2t

    Polarizing Shades
    The Backlash Is So Strong That People With “Pervert Glasses” Are Afraid to Use Them in Public
    “A lot of men and their behaviors have ruined this product.”
    https://futurism.com/future-society/backlash-meta-pervert-glasses-afraid?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLOY5jbGNrBMs5bWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHsCljS_TMYNF6HkrnGDULpeExhHPw-vfQqHxOadb9b5sSGuuX57Nzc-NBOqN_aem_W2Rv4EUBxxzWX4dAMbP7Mg

    Meta’s camera-equipped “AI Glasses” are so divisive that some adopters are now leaving their expensive smart glasses at home, as Engadget reports.

    Influencers, mostly men, have been using the glasses to inconspicuously — and non-consensually — capture footage of themselves approaching women and attempting to hit on them, interactions they’ve then posted online for content. Some wearers have even attempted to extort victims of covert recordings for cash. That’s on top of serious allegations of alleged privacy breaches by Meta itself.

    Reply
34. July 20, 2026 at 6:31 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Hack Reveals Suno AI Music Generator Scraped YouTube, Deezer, and Genius
    https://www.404media.co/hack-reveals-suno-ai-music-generator-scraped-youtube-deezer-and-genius/

    The AI music generation tool Suno scraped millions of songs and lyrics from YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius, as well as from the stock music libraries Pond5, Jamendo, Freesound, the International Music Score Library Project, and podcasts via RSS feeds, according to a hacker who breached the company and shared data about Suno’s training libraries with 404 Media. The hacker was also able to access user information for hundreds of thousands of Suno’s customers, as well as Stripe payment information, they said.

    Reply
35. July 20, 2026 at 9:44 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    These days, it’s hard to say which technological “innovation” US citizens hate more: AI data centers or Flock surveillance poles.

    The American revulsion with the former is well known. The latter, however, has seen an even more shocking rise in resistance, as the number of people hacking down, blinding, or otherwise sabotaging Flock cameras has reached a level best described as “countless.”

    https://futurism.com/future-society/flock-surveillance-backlash-audio-distress-screaming-police?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLZ1xjbGNrBMtnLGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqBmnzgk8Jkatmij5t1VQTpjhCadck6p6M-tzYxcMIxgZs2fltv7i4vXNeyC_aem_jPhol9zemkcw0Ta_W9U4OA

    Reply
36. July 20, 2026 at 9:48 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    It’s a bloodbath. https://trib.al/pOlO1q3

    Mad Men
    OpenAI Appears to Be Missing Its Sales Goals by a Vast Margin
    It’s a bloodbath.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-ad-revenue-ai-advertising-financial-projection?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLZ5ZjbGNrBMtniGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHtDEfLueUOv81VvL3wEMH4ZjIugjSIIEFGjkqZdJVpYrJMLLfC5UD5rYPGYJ_aem_3AX0UVyrszeI0rTrup1NIg

    Even as the AI bubble becomes a mainstream talking point on Wall Street, tech companies continue to peddle the fantasy that AI is poised to become an almost magical money-maker. Case in point, OpenAI wants you to believe that by 2030, it’ll be raking in $100 billion a year just from ads alone — even though it’s currently struggling to reach just $1 billion.

    That massive gulf was observed in a new analysis from marketing consulting firm Emarketer, first flagged by AdWeek, which found OpenAI is on pace to undershoot its own five-year ad revenue projections by a whopping 90 percent. In fact, Emarketer’s take is even more devastating than that: it estimates that the entire addressable market for chatbot advertising — the maximum amount of money up for grabs overall — at $5.4 billion.

    That figure isn’t just bad news for OpenAI, but for every giant tech company, all of which are jockeying for a piece of the AI ad pie. In 2026, Emarketer projects that the combination of OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon will bring in under $1 billion in ad revenue. For context, OpenAI had projected that its AI ad revenue alone would hit $2.5 billion by the end of this year.

    It all adds up to a difficult question for investors. If the top AI companies — which have burned over $1.6 trillion building AI so far — can’t even hit OpenAI’s meager projection for 2026, what hope do they have of hitting their projections four years from now?

    To hit that number, AdWeek observes, OpenAI needs three miracles to happen all at once. First, advertisers have to abandon decades worth of infrastructure built around search engines and social media and put all their advertising budgets into chatbots. Once that happens, OpenAI has to out-muscle previous ad-sales giants like Google and Meta, while the entire AI-ad market balloons from just a six-figure stream in 2026 to a raging, 12-figure river by 2030.

    Basically, OpenAI will have to make a lot of history to justify these numbers. And whether it can do so is no small matter: according to OpenAI’s own forecasts, advertising is supposed to make up 36 percent of the company’s total revenue by 2030.

    If the AI lab can’t make the math work, the company’s five-year financial story falls apart, and with it, a major bullet point justifying one of the largest financial bubbles the world has ever seen.

    Reply
37. July 20, 2026 at 10:18 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    It just doesn’t make any sense. https://trib.al/Fd4ejhp

    Wrong Direction
    There’s a Gigantic Problem at the Heart of the AI Industry That Could Cause the Whole Thing to Collapse
    It just doesn’t make any sense.
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/problem-ai-industry-collapse-efficiency?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLbsdjbGNrBMtusWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHkobIWzHTKVnF91gZa9D-R6KwDZkD_E-HWmJBxD0ogwlZo5Qyr0MTkxxRf1D_aem_tSg283yiCKvYZpFeBCkuRQ

    For years, AI companies have been selling investors on the idea that scaling up operations is the key to success — the bigger the AI model, the more powerful it becomes.

    But in practice, that premise is leading to enormous business problems. As The Atlantic points out, LLMs are suffering from severely diminishing returns: the cost of inference, or the act of using a trained AI model to process new data, is rising exponentially, making the tech far less lucrative than it was even half a year ago.

    Put simply, it’s effectively the opposite of what investors would conventionally want to see, as The Atlantic argues, which would be a continuous drop in cost per user instead of the reverse.

    That’s bad news for an industry pouring billions of dollars into the construction of enormous data centers across the country, despite having no clear path to profitability in the foreseeable future. While it’s impossible to predict when exactly fears of an AI bubble will hit a breaking point, analysts warn it’s a matter of when, not if. The consequences could be disastrous if the industry were to collapse in on itself, bringing down entire economies — which have vastly over-indexed on AI tech — with it.

    Nonetheless, AI companies are steadfast in their belief that chatbots, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, are the future. They’ve become practically inescapable in our day-to-day lives, from integrations in operating systems to replacing humans on customer service calls — despite a major public backlash that represents another headwind for the industry.

    Meeting AI’s rapidly growing demands will also require revolutionary leaps in hardware tech that are becoming increasingly harder to come by, with experts warning of the imminent end of Moore’s Law, the decades-old truism that more transistors steadily improved computing power.

    In short, as behemoth AI models are quickly becoming unaffordable to those who’ve grown to rely on them, they’re also becoming far less efficient — a concerning trajectory that could nudge the entire economy closer to the brink.

    Reply
38. July 20, 2026 at 11:15 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    “The head of strategic futures OpenAI seems a little rattled.” https://trib.al/AbjXrhR

    Do Something Donald
    OpenAI Exec Laments That China Is Giving Away Models So Good That For-Profit Companies Won’t Be Able to Compete
    “The head of strategic futures OpenAI seems a little rattled.”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-china-models-profit-money?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLfGJjbGNrBMt8RmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHv-ANLTWIhkZgogGs-vjZ3IOErAsRF_RilnMg_BiJ561Prtk8p2G4QVucylm_aem_LjYwqNSMgQyxnxBBtcKTpg

    Last week, a Chinese-made large language model called Kimi K3, developed by Beijing-based firm Moonshot AI, burst onto the scene.

    The open-weight model impressed with early benchmark results, trading blows with some of the most advanced closed-weight ones being developed by the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic — and at a fraction of the cost.

    Much like Chinese competitor DeepSeek’s AI model upending Silicon Valley in early 2025, Kimi-K3 sent shockwaves across the industry. A major sell-off roiled the tech-heavy Nasdaq, with the S&P 500 slipping after the unveiling.

    For top closed-weight AI labs, it was the perfect storm. Executives are already balking at rapidly rising costs and desperately looking for cheaper alternatives. Kimi K3 may end up luring them in, making it even harder for the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic to attract new customers — right as they need to cover at least some of their exorbitant costs.

    Reply
39. July 20, 2026 at 11:15 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    To Ball, open-weight models hinder the progress of AI by deterring labs from investing more capital in development. As a result, he predicted that the Trump administration would “create large amounts of regulatory risk around the use of open-weight Chinese models,”
    https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-china-models-profit-money?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLfLljbGNrBMt8RmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHv-ANLTWIhkZgogGs-vjZ3IOErAsRF_RilnMg_BiJ561Prtk8p2G4QVucylm_aem_LjYwqNSMgQyxnxBBtcKTpg

    Reply
40. July 20, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    “Think about the most un-human parts of the dating app experience.” https://trib.al/wU1woIT

    Loveslop
    AI-Pilled Tech CEO Convinced He Has the Perfect Solution for Online Dating, Announces Harebrained App Idea
    “Think about the most un-human parts of the dating app experience.”
    https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-mcleod-ceo-online-dating-overtone-app?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLf91jbGNrBMt_yGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHgmx5vXF43R258-99I27R7KLdpMeMrzq1fdcLrd_uwUzbhFOeD_mLDeyZCJD_aem_CV8waO-VzAaG3UPAnW0haw

    Look, dating in the 2020s sucks. The apps are bad, people are rude, and the etiquette of it all seems to be evolving at the speed of sound. Yet for all the downsides, there’s nothing that can’t be made 100 times worse with the addition of AI slop.

    For better or worse, that’s exactly what Hinge founder Justin McLeod has in mind for his latest dating app, “Overtone.”

    Reply
41. July 20, 2026 at 11:32 pm

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Mordor On Strike
    Palantir Insiders Disgusted by Company’s Leadership
    “An absolute internal meltdown.”
    https://futurism.com/future-society/palantir-workers-surveillance-disgusted-leaders?fbclid=IwdGRjcATLgCtjbGNrBMuAFWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqI_EFkQTGeMkwO-Y53PZtF_cnPTzszrtk-XWOTHRsSe99JLZ7LzGUOfRWfI_aem_beB_9gD1sW6aF6_KYTFBYw

    As tech companies go, the surveillance giant Palantir plays it looser than most. Specializing in deadly military targeting software and domestic police technology, Palantir isn’t afraid to lean into the reactionary, dystopian schtick.

    That’s not an exaggeration. In a since-deleted post on X-formerly-Twitter, Palantir’s head of “strategic engagement” Eliano Younes shared an AI-generated propaganda video depicting the company logo surrounded by cult imagery, bloody crosses, and the grim reaper.

    Politically, it all reads a bit like Mordor’s orcs registering HR complaints about Sauron’s management style. The objection is noted, but you’re still helping the guy conquer Middle Earth; Palantir, after all, is named after a fictional orb in JRR Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” that corrupts anyone foolish enough to peer into it.

    https://futurism.com/future-society/meltdown-alex-karp-palantir-cnbc-interview?fbclid=IwVERDUATLgJJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5iXxNJzuuPUlDChfL4aJMiPHplafgtn_2fIgusfINhEcFf81Lkox3NPNfvrA_aem_OpOYM60NmFsFngYHvibnQw

    Reply
42. July 21, 2026 at 6:10 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Data centers are literally just computers plugged into power. They are not emitting anything new. It is the same computers that we have been using for 40 years, just a bunch of them in one place.

    Stop believing propaganda

    Reply
43. July 21, 2026 at 6:15 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9442/text

    House (06/24/2026)

    119th CONGRESS
    2d Session
    H. R. 9442

    To impose a moratorium on the construction of new data centers until legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence.

    A BILL
    To impose a moratorium on the construction of new data centers until legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

    Reply
44. July 21, 2026 at 6:16 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center Moratorium Act in the House, serving as the companion to the Senate bill led by Senator Bernie Sanders
    https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-ocasio-cortez-announce-ai-data-center-moratorium-act/

    Reply
45. July 21, 2026 at 6:18 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://broadbandbreakfast.com/ocasio-cortez-introduces-ai-data-center-moratorium-act/

    https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/ocasio-cortez-evo.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/pih-ocasny_052_xml-copy.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com

    Reply
46. July 21, 2026 at 6:31 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Could a data center affect livestock?

    It’s possible for large industrial facilities to create issues such as:

    * constant noise,
    * dust during construction,
    * heavy truck traffic,
    * air pollution (if powered by on-site gas turbines),
    * increased water use.

    Some Texas ranchers have raised concerns about these impacts, and journalists have documented disputes over them.

    However, that is very different from proving that a data center caused every calf to be stillborn.

    Why the claim is weak

    To establish a causal link, investigators would need evidence such as:

    * veterinary necropsies,
    * pregnancy and calving records before and after the data center opened,
    * disease testing,
    * nutritional analyses,
    * toxicology,
    * environmental measurements (noise, air quality, etc.),
    * comparison with nearby herds.

    None of that has been published.

    Bottom line

    The image presents an unverified anecdote as though it were an established fact. Based on the available evidence, there is no credible proof that AI data centers are causing widespread stillbirths in cattle. That doesn’t mean environmental concerns around some data centers are unfounded—it means this specific claim has not been substantiated.

    Reply
47. July 21, 2026 at 6:34 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Opposition to AI Data Centers by Ranchers
    Key Concerns
    Ranchers and farmers in the U.S. are increasingly voicing their opposition to the construction of AI data centers on agricultural land.

    Their main concerns include:
    Reduction of Agricultural Land: The expansion of data centers could lead to a decrease in available farmland, impacting food production.

    Increased Water Consumption: Data centers require significant water resources, which could strain local supplies, especially in drought-prone areas like Montana.

    Higher Electricity Costs: The demand for electricity from these facilities may drive up costs for local communities.

    Specific Examples
    In Montana, an energy company has acquired approximately 6,000 acres of rangeland for a potential AI data center. Local farmers fear that during drought years, agriculture may have to reduce water usage to meet the data center’s demands.

    The Illinois Farm Bureau has also raised similar concerns, indicating that technology companies are aggressively competing for rural land.

    Industry Response
    Despite these concerns, representatives from the technology sector argue that modern data centers can use water more efficiently than traditional agriculture. They claim that in some states, new data centers have even helped stabilize or lower electricity rates by improving power infrastructure.

    Conclusion
    The debate continues as agricultural organizations advocate for a balance between digital infrastructure development and the preservation of essential land and water resources for food production

    Reply
48. July 21, 2026 at 7:51 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    U.S. data centers account for roughly 0.2% to 0.4% of total daily water withdrawals nationwide. This includes direct cooling and indirect electricity generation. However, usage is highly localized; facilities in arid regions like Arizona can demand up to 20% of local municipal supplies.
    https://www.fwpcoa.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=859275&item_id=130961

    Reply
49. July 21, 2026 at 7:58 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    U.S. data centers account for roughly 0.2% to 0.4% of total daily water withdrawals nationwide. At national scale something else needs to be done.

    The local impacts are outsized even if the national percentage is small. About 40% of U.S. data centers are located in areas of high or extreme water stress. Not a good idea to build data centers to those places.

    https://www.fwpcoa.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=859275&item_id=130961

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50. July 21, 2026 at 8:04 am

    Tomi Engdahl says:

    Many areas un USA hage been running out of water for literal years now, JUST the Texas Panhandle alone uses a trillion gallons a year for agriculture alone. You can only imagine the amount of water larger cities and areas use at this point, the people pointing a finger at AI Centers (That use 0.3% to 0.5% annually of our total water in America) are laughably ignorant, we’ve had this issue forever, people just haven’t paid attention till now.

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