Senators Investigate Role of A.I. Data Centers in Rising Electricity Costs

16 December 2025 at 13:57

Three Democrats are seeking information from tech firms about the growing energy use of data centers and the utility bills of individuals and other businesses.

The energy needs of data centers used for artificial intelligence are forcing utility companies to spend billions of dollars to upgrade the power grid, the lawmakers said.

How Tech’s Biggest Companies Are Offloading the Risks of the A.I. Boom

NYT: Technology

By:Karen Weise and Eli Tan

15 December 2025 at 16:08

The data centers used for work on artificial intelligence can cost tens of billions to build. Tech giants are finding ways to avoid being on the hook for some of those costs.

Meta is investing billions in new data centers, like one being constructed in Eagle Mountain, Utah.

Can OpenAI Respond After Google Closes the A.I. Technology Gap?

NYT: Technology

By:Cade Metz and Mike Isaac

11 December 2025 at 14:58

A new technology release from OpenAI is supposed to top what Google recently produced. It also shows OpenAI is engaged in a new and more difficult competition.

OpenAI’s newest technology comes after Google claimed it had topped its young competitor.

Why the A.I. Boom Is Unlike the Dot-Com Boom

NYT: Technology

By:David Streitfeld

9 December 2025 at 11:31

Silicon Valley is again betting everything on a new technology. But the mania is not a reboot of the late-1990s frenzy.

Ben Horowitz, a major A.I. venture capitalist, in 2019. “The clearest sign that we are not actually in a bubble is the fact that everyone is talking about a bubble,” he said.

How Art Is Driving Waymo’s Feel-Good Branding

NYT: Technology

By:Jori Finkel

9 December 2025 at 05:02

A tech giant has teamed up with local artists, adding vibrant colors and quirky characters in an effort to humanize its futuristic ride.

A Waymo self-driving car in Los Angeles wrapped with art by Tommii Lim. His cartoon cat is a stand-in for the target Waymo customer, who enjoys kicking back and relinquishing control of the wheel.

How Art Is Driving Waymo’s Feel-Good Branding

NYT: Technology

By:Jori Finkel

9 December 2025 at 05:02

A tech giant has teamed up with local artists, adding vibrant colors and quirky characters in an effort to humanize its futuristic ride.

A.I. Videos Have Flooded Social Media. No One Was Ready.

NYT: Technology

By:Steven Lee Myers and Stuart A. Thompson

8 December 2025 at 14:03

Apps like OpenAI’s Sora are fooling millions of users into thinking A.I. videos are real, even when they include warning labels.

OpenAI Calls a ‘Code Red’ + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop

NYT: Technology

By:Kevin Roose · Casey Newton · Whitney Jones · Rachel Cohn · Jen Poyant · Chris Wood · Dan Powell · Elisheba Ittoop and Rowan Niemisto

5 December 2025 at 07:00

“For OpenAI to realize its ambitions, it is not going to be enough for them to make a model that is as good as Gemini 3. They need to be able to leapfrog it again.”

Take Command of Your Powerful New Smartphone Camera

NYT: Technology

By:J. D. Biersdorfer

26 November 2025 at 09:00

This year’s high-end models from Apple and Google raise the bar for mobile photography, but users should take the time to learn the settings and features.

On iPhone models that include the Camera Control button on the lower-right side, you can scroll through a menu of options for various settings with your thumb and even take the photo with one hand by pressing the button.

The Fate of Google’s Ad Tech Monopoly Is Now in a Judge’s Hands

NYT: Technology

By:David McCabe

21 November 2025 at 15:43

A judge queried lawyers about whether a breakup made sense during closing arguments on how to fix the tech giant’s dominance in online advertising.

Judge Brinkema’s decision could restructure Google’s business as the company races to develop better artificial intelligence than its rivals and successfully weave the technology into its suite of products.

The A.I. Boom Has Found Another Gear. Why Can’t People Shake Their Worries?

NYT: Technology

By:Cade Metz

20 November 2025 at 20:34

It is a time of superlatives in the tech industry, with historic profits, stock prices and deal prices. It’s enough to make some people very nervous.

OpenAI’s Stargate data center complex in Abilene, Texas.

How TikTok Helped Meta Land an Antitrust Victory

NYT: Technology

By:David McCabe and Steve Lohr

18 November 2025 at 19:53

Silicon Valley has increasingly pointed at rapid digital changes to blunt government efforts to rein in its power.

The Washington headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission, which sued Meta five years ago.

Meta’s Victory Opens the Way for Silicon Valley to Go Deal Shopping

NYT: Technology

By:Eli Tan · Mike Isaac and Erin Griffith

18 November 2025 at 17:56

To avoid regulatory scrutiny, big tech companies had steered clear of buying start-ups outright. Meta’s antitrust win may change that thinking.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, in September. On Tuesday, a federal judge found Meta had not violated antitrust law by buying Instagram and WhatsApp when they were tiny start-ups.

Google Unveils Gemini 3, With Improved Coding and Search Abilities

NYT: Technology

By:Tripp Mickle and Cade Metz

18 November 2025 at 11:29

The new artificial intelligence model is the second the company has released this year. OpenAI and Anthropic made similar updates a few months ago.

Google said the information produced by Gemini 3 was 72 percent accurate.

Google’s Gemini 3 Is Here: A Special Early Look

NYT: Technology

By:Kevin Roose · Casey Newton · Rachel Cohn · Whitney Jones · Jen Poyant · Chris Wood · Dan Powell · Rowan Niemisto and Diane Wong

18 November 2025 at 11:03

Maybe more than other model releases, this one seems to have the attention of Google’s competitors. Will it put the company at the top of the A.I. leaderboard?

Self-Driving Taxis Are Catching On. Are You Ready?

NYT: Technology

By:Brian X. Chen · Cade Metz and Balazs Gardi

18 November 2025 at 09:00

With the arrival of Amazon’s Zoox robot taxi in San Francisco to compete with Waymo, autonomous services are gaining momentum. But there are pros and cons.

A Zoox driverless vehicle on a San Francisco street.

Europe Begins Rethinking Its Crackdown on Big Tech

NYT: Technology

By:Adam Satariano and Jeanna Smialek

17 November 2025 at 10:49

European policymakers are crafting changes to scale back and simplify landmark rules for A.I. and data privacy, in a shift from an aggressive regulatory period.

What’s a Digital Passport and How Does It Work?

NYT: Technology

By:Claire Fahy

14 November 2025 at 12:57

Apple joined Google this week in allowing travelers to add their passports to their cellphone “wallets.” As the holiday travel season nears, here’s what you need to know.

Using digital identification while traveling has become increasingly common. Both Apple and Google have introduced versions of digital passports, which can be used at many airports around the country.

Data Centers in Space + A.I. Policy on the Right + A Gemini History Mystery

NYT: Technology

By:Kevin Roose · Casey Newton · Rachel Cohn · Whitney Jones · Jen Poyant · Chris Wood · Dan Powell · Elisheba Ittoop and Marion Lozano

14 November 2025 at 07:00

“As you may have noticed, it is not easy to build data centers here on Earth.”

Who Pays When A.I. Is Wrong?

NYT: Technology

By:Ken Bensinger

12 November 2025 at 05:01

New court cases seek to define content created by artificial intelligence as defamatory — a novel concept that has captivated some legal experts.

Wolf River Electric sued Google when A.I.-generated search results fabricated a lawsuit against the company. Its executives include, from left, Luka Bozek, Vladimir Marchenko and Justin Nielsen.

How A.I. and Social Media Contribute to ‘Brain Rot’

NYT: Technology

By:Brian X. Chen

6 November 2025 at 10:15

A.I. search tools, chatbots and social media are associated with lower cognitive performance, studies say. What to do?

A.I. Spending Is Accelerating Among Tech’s Biggest Companies

NYT: Technology

By:Karen Weise

31 October 2025 at 05:02

Despite the risk of a bubble, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon plan to spend billions more on artificial intelligence than they already do.

Google is among several big technology companies increasing their spending on data centers.

Alphabet Revenue Jumps 16% With Strong Cloud Sales

NYT: Technology

By:Tripp Mickle

29 October 2025 at 20:18

Profits also rose, to just under $35 billion, as Google Search proved resilient to A.I. alternatives.

Alphabet’s sales and profit for the quarter beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

Cal State Invited Tech Companies to Remake Learning With A.I.

NYT: Technology

By:Natasha Singer and Philip Cheung

26 October 2025 at 17:32

Spurred by titans like Amazon and OpenAI, California State wants to become the nation’s “largest A.I.-empowered” university.

Participants of the California State University AI Camp 2025 at California Polytechnic State University campus.

Reddit Accuses ‘Data Scraper’ Companies of Theft

NYT: Technology

By:Mike Isaac

22 October 2025 at 16:23

In a lawsuit, Reddit pulled back the curtain on an ecosystem of start-ups that scrape Google’s search results and resell the information to data-hungry A.I. companies.

Reddit, which went public last year, has banned scraping of its website and charges companies for access to its data.

G.M. Previews Talking Cars, Cheaper Batteries and Other New Tech

NYT: Technology

By:Jack Ewing

22 October 2025 at 14:18

Drivers will be able to converse with an artificial intelligence assistant while cars largely drive themselves in certain situations, the company said.

Battery assembly at a General Motors plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. G.M. announced that it had developed a new lower-cost battery.

Google’s Quantum Computer Makes a Big Technical Leap

NYT: Technology

By:Cade Metz

22 October 2025 at 12:14

Designed to accelerate advances in medicine and other fields, the tech giant’s quantum algorithm runs 13,000 times as fast as software written for a traditional supercomputer.

A quantum computer at Google’s quantum research facility near Santa Barbara, Calif.

AI Data Centers Create Fury From Mexico to Ireland

NYT: Technology

By:Paul Mozur · Adam Satariano and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

20 October 2025 at 15:00

As tech companies build data centers worldwide to advance artificial intelligence, vulnerable communities have been hit by blackouts and water shortages.

When Microsoft opened a data center in central Mexico last year, nearby residents said power cuts became more frequent. Water outages, which once lasted days, stretched for weeks.

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

NYT: Technology

By:Paul Mozur and Marcos Zegers

22 October 2025 at 03:12

Political debates have flared across Chile over artificial intelligence. Should the nation pour billions into A.I. and risk public backlash, or risk being left behind?

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