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Amazon pledges $1B to ease data centre backlash

2 October 2026 at 16:32

Amazon committed more than $1 billion over the next five years to support communities hosting its data centres in a bid to address mounting opposition to AI infrastructure.

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman announced the investment in an essay defending data centre development, arguing the buildout is needed for the US to remain competitive in the global AI race.

“Data centres bring considerable tax revenue, positive economic impact, large numbers of good jobs, education programs and other benefits to the communities where they’re built,” he wrote.

The new programme will fund education, workforce training, local hiring, energy upgrades, water and energy preservation projects and grants for local initiatives. Amazon added local communities will help determine how the funding is used.

The company said it expects to connect more than 300,000 students to free degree programmes in data centre communities over five years. It also plans to expand its network of training centres, alongside grants for energy efficiency upgrades targeting more than 300 schools and community buildings and over 30,000 homes.

Amazon also pledged to stop using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies involved in its data centre projects, explaining it would publish annual information on energy consumption, water use and efficiency.

Losing ticket
Data centre expansion has been facing growing backlash across the world over power demand, water consumption, land disruption, noise and environmental impact. In July, New York became the first US state to introduce a one-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale facilities requiring 50 megawatts of power or more, citing environmental concerns, pressure on the energy grid and costs for residents.

Garman warned data centre moratoriums could leave the country behind in the global AI race. “If these measures are enacted, the US could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” he said.

He also pushed back against concerns over water consumption, electricity prices and emissions from backup generators, describing several commonly cited claims as “myths”, “misinformation and outright lies”. He explained direct data centre water consumption accounts for about 0.5% of total US industrial water use and that backup generators remain idle 99.9% of the time.

The post Amazon pledges $1B to ease data centre backlash appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Life science companies warm to digital techs

2 October 2026 at 11:28

Rockwell Automation found a majority of manufacturers in the life sciences sector are employing smart production technologies as part of digital transformations, but most struggle to derive meaningful insights from the data collected.

Research involving 104 executives and managers at life sciences businesses found 58% of companies are already using smart manufacturing technologies to some degree in their operations.

Rockwell Automation indicated the potential for growth is high, with 90% recognising the importance of digital transformation.

But it noted businesses are keen to ensure there are tangible outcomes to technology investments. Most believe AI and machine learning will deliver the greatest benefits, with 46% selecting the option.

The research showed a disconnect between the pace of AI adoption and the readiness of the data available.

Rockwell Automation found 32% believe they are generating meaningful insights from more than half the data collected, indicating significant room for improvement at a time when many companies stated they already use AI or plan to do so within the next 12 months.

Digitalisation moves are also being fuelled by a growing number of cyberattacks. Rockwell Automation found 54% of life sciences companies had been targeted in the past year due, in part, to remote access and connected equipment vulnerabilities.

Matt Weaver, VP of global industry, life sciences, said figures showing companies are willing to invest in smart technologies to improve quality, digitise operations and lower risk show the sector has moved on from the days when regulatory compliance was “something they ramped” for.

“The companies connecting their data, securing systems and validating AI deployments today are the ones that will be ready for what comes next from regulators or from the market.”

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Trump brushes off AI concerns, praises Anthropic CEO

2 October 2026 at 09:37

US President Donald Trump (pictured) reportedly continued to dismiss concerns about any threat AI poses to humanity while repeating his claim guardrails would impede its development.

In a wide-ranging interview with Time Magazine published yesterday (1 October), Trump stated he liked Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after a recent dinner. He praised the executive’s intelligence and claimed Amodei’s actual views differed from how they were portrayed in the media.

In mid-June 2026, the Trump administration issued a directive instructing Anthropic to suspend access to its advanced models over national security concerns related to potential jailbreaking vulnerabilities but then reversed course around a month later.

“I liked him and his wife a lot,” Trump told Time Magazine. “Very smart guy. Maybe different than I thought, a little bit. Really a little bit different. But no, he understands.”

Trump hosted a meeting at the White House with some of the top AI executives, including Amodei, on 29 September, which led to participants signing a voluntary framework focused on industry self-regulation and internal oversight.

The president has opposed any sort of guardrails for AI from the government, claiming they would hamper development and lead to China overtaking the US. Trump told Time Magazine his guardrail against AI labs is enforcement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Justice.

“Look, I say, if you’re going to seek regulation, they can put you out of business,” he said in the magazine interview. “Now you do have to be responsible for yourself, and there aren’t a lot of people that understand what’s going on”.

“This is a new one that is much different than people have ever seen before. But my attitude is, we’re winning against the world by a lot, and I want to keep winning,” he added.

Time Magazine noted 71% of US citizens oppose building data centres while 57% believe AI will do more harm than good. Trump has repeatedly referred to AI concerns as a hoax.

In the interview he claimed data centres “make a fortune” and would lead to lower taxes.

Trump also indicated he could be interested in the US government owning a stake in in Anthropic or OpenAI, similar to the deal he struck with Intel.

The post Trump brushes off AI concerns, praises Anthropic CEO appeared first on Mobile World Live.

SoftBank seals DigitalBridge deal

1 October 2026 at 11:00

SoftBank Group completed an acquisition of AI infrastructure investor DigitalBridge 10 months after announcing the tie-up.

The Japanese company stated it paid $3.1 billion in an all-stock deal for DigitalBridge, which will continue to operate as a separate platform led by current CEO Marc Ganzi.

DigitalBridge’s figures will be included in SoftBank’s consolidated financial statements, starting from 30 September.

SoftBank chair and CEO Masayoshi Son previously said the acquisition would bolster the group AI abilities, pointing to a deeper presence in next-generation data centres and ambitions around superintelligence.

Ganzi predicted a boost to DigitalBridge’s long-term investment capabilities.

DigitalBridge specialises in data centres mobile towers, fibre networks and edge infrastructure, and managed $10 billion in assets as of September 2025.

The post SoftBank seals DigitalBridge deal appeared first on Mobile World Live.

OpenAI sued over Hugging Face breach

1 October 2026 at 09:40

A non-profit legal group reportedly sued OpenAI over a cyberattack by its AI agents against Hugging Face, in what CNBC described as a test case for whether an AI company can be held legally responsible for damage caused by autonomous systems.

The news outlet reported Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology (LASST) filed the suit on 29 September in a Superior Court. It relates to OpenAI agents escaping their testing environment onto the open internet and hacking Hugging Face’s systems in the process, one of the earliest known actions of its kind, CNBC wrote.

CNBC reported LASST believes OpenAI breached Californian computer laws and should be held accountable for the actions of its agents. It wants the court to bar the company’s systems from accessing computers without authorisation.

An OpenAI representative told CNBC the suit lacks merit.

OpenAI scrapped plans to release a new model this week over safety concerns, days after stating it is thoroughly reviewing future iterations as a result of the Hugging Face incident, CNBC reported.

Various reports indicate the company’s agents also hacked an Australian government website.

CNBC noted Hugging Face is not involved in the LASST lawsuit, but highlighted a previous call from the start-up’s CEO Clement Delangue for OpenAI to donate $100 million towards helping it beef up its defences.

OpenAI reportedly tried to invest the same sum in Hugging Face. Nvidia ultimately secured a deal to buy it for $13 billion.

The post OpenAI sued over Hugging Face breach appeared first on Mobile World Live.

US FTC opens investigation into top AI players

1 October 2026 at 09:28

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reportedly opened a wide-ranging probe into Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies over the potential danger posed by their models.

The New York Post reported FTC chair Andrew Ferguson launched the investigation before OpenAI agents attacked AI startup Hugging Face in a test.

Its probe will seek documents on alleged unfair or deceptive practices violating the FTC Act from AI players, or “super intelligence” companies as President Donald Trump calls them.

The agency is now drafting a civil investigative demand to force testimony from leading companies in the space.

Its move adds to scrutiny of OpenAI and Anthropic’s safety practices after researchers warned their models could cause catastrophic harm.

News outlets reported President Donald Trump met executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Nvidia earlier this week, after which the companies signed a voluntary commitment on AI development.

The framework arrived during a dispute over whether safety concerns should slow development.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently proposed permanent third-party evaluators inside AI companies as part of a wider plan to curb advances in frontier capabilities. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed the proposal.

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DeepSeek, Huawei team on AI chip software

30 September 2026 at 15:23

AI start-up DeepSeek partnered with Huawei to launch an open-source programming software toolkit optimised for the vendor’s Ascend chips, as the Chinese companies up efforts to expand the AI market beyond Nvidia’s technology.

DeepSeek stated on its WeChat account the toolkit is free to download and includes the TileLang platform, which can be compared to Nvidia’s Cuda that is widely considered as a global standard for developing AI models.

The Chinese AI company explained TileLang is “simpler to programme, significantly improving development efficiency and simplifying code logic”.

It added the open-source programming includes compute and communication libraries.

DeepSeek stated it worked with Huawei on its Ascend 950 chips and praised the vendor for providing “unwavering and strong support” during R&D.

“To do a good job, one must first have the right tools,” DeepSeek stated, arguing the first step to building an independent, GPU software ecosystem is to establish an easy-to-programme high-level language which “can simultaneously reach the hardware performance limits”.

Bloomberg reported earlier this month DeepSeek plans to deploy at least 160,000 Huawei AI accelerators at a new data centre in Inner Mongolia.

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Anthropic targets $2T valuation despite AI concerns

30 September 2026 at 09:25

Anthropic is reportedly seeking a valuation of more than $2 trillion in a public listing while also warning in a leaked prospectus AI could pose a catastrophic or existential risk to humanity.

Reuters reported the AI startup recorded a $42 billion net loss in 2025 after reviewing its IPO prospectus. About $34 billion reflected an accounting charge tied to financing which could convert into shares, while compute and infrastructure spending tripled to $7.3 billion.

The filing shows Anthropic faces $518 billion in cloud, compute and infrastructure commitments in the coming years.

Revenue jumped 12-fold to nearly $4.6 billion, though its operating loss widened to $8 billion from $3 billion in 2024.

The prospectus also flagged customer concentration with two customers generating nearly a quarter of 2025 revenue while several were not locked into long-term contracts.

The filing also outlined safety risks exposed by Anthropic’s research, including autonomous systems disrupting code and manipulating information in controlled tests.

Reuters previously reported the IPO could be delayed until after the November US midterm elections. Rival OpenAI is reportedly targeting a listing next year.

Trump weighs in
Speaking at the White House surrounded by tech titans and government officials, NBC News reported President Donald Trump pushed back on heavier AI guardrails.

Flanked by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Trump stated there was agreement among the executives there should be “tremendous self-regulation” by the companies”.

“There’s a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation, and we automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that,” Trump said.

The news site reported in addition to Huang and Musk, Trump’s AI lunch and summit also included including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, AMD CEO Lisa Su and OpenAI president Greg Brockman.

While US states, including New York, and communities have put data centre laws or moratoriums in place, Trump said the group of executives “loves local communities, they love our country, and they’re going to work with local communities for the data centres in particular”.

He also stated AI-related data centres “are going to be very popular” across the US due to the efforts of the technology companies in attendance.

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John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO

2 September 2026 at 07:33

The longtime hardware chief takes the top job as Cook becomes executive chairman after 15 years leading Apple.

The post John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO appeared first on BOL News.

Mysterious “flying object” concerns many in Attica and Crete

12 August 2026 at 13:31

A mysterious “flying object”, a strange “cloud” that appeared in the sky in Greece on Tuesday evening, shortly before the sunset, caused concern and curiosity among residents of southeastern Attica, Crete and some other islands yesterday, August 11, 2026. Images and eyewitnesses claimed that there was no other cloud in the sky at that time. […]

The post Mysterious “flying object” concerns many in Attica and Crete appeared first on Keep Talking Greece.

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