NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

Tech Billionaire Wants to Launch Data Centers Into Space

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s recent acquisition of rocket company Relativity Space puzzled many. However, it appears he's aiming to launch data centers into space to meet the soaring energy demands of AI.

Why Space-Based Data Centers?

• AI technologies, especially large language models like ChatGPT, require immense computational power, leading to significant energy consumption. Traditional data centers on Earth face challenges like limited power supply and cooling issues.

• By placing data centers in orbit, Schmidt aims to leverage abundant solar energy and the cold environment of space for efficient cooling. Relativity Space's Terran R rocket, capable of carrying over 30 metric tons into orbit, could facilitate this vision.

Understanding the Energy Scale

• To grasp the magnitude, consider that 1 gigawatt (GW) can power approximately 876,000 homes annually.

• Schmidt believes future AI data centers might each require up to 10 GW, equivalent to the output of 10 nuclear power plants. By 2030, AI could demand an additional 67 GW, highlighting the urgency for innovative solutions. 😲

Orbital Risks

• As always, every bold idea has its risks as well. Earth’s orbit is crowded with over 41,000 tracked objects and around 140 million debris fragments, all moving up to 25,000 km/h. Even tiny pieces can cause catastrophic collisions.

• Launching large-scale hardware increases the risk of debris events, making risk mitigation critical for any orbital data center plan.

📺 Watch this 2min TED interview with Schmidt on why AI is under-hyped.

UAE Launches Falcon Arabic: A Big Step for Arabic AI

The United Arab Emirates has taken a major leap forward in AI with the launch of Falcon Arabic, a powerful new AI model that understands and communicates in Arabic.

Why Falcon Arabic Is Important

• Arabic is spoken by nearly 400 million people, yet most AI tools today are designed for English or other widely spoken languages.

• Falcon Arabic changes that. It’s designed specifically for Arabic, including both formal Modern Standard Arabic and regional dialects, offering responses that are more natural, relevant, and culturally aware.

Smarter and More Efficient

• Falcon Arabic combines accuracy and efficiency, performing as well as—or better than—much larger AI models.

• It can manage long, complex documents and multi-turn conversations, making it ideal for everything from customer service to education, content creation, and coding support.

A Race for AI Leadership

The Middle East is not just participating in AI development—it’s competing to lead. In 2023, countries across the region invested over $3 billion in AI—the fastest growth globally.

• Saudi Arabia has launched a $40 billion AI investment fund and a national AI company focused on Arabic innovation.

• The UAE’s Falcon ecosystem is quickly gaining global recognition and was recently ranked among the top 3 open-source models worldwide.

Watch this space. 😎

📺 Check out this 2min Insta announcement by the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) that created Falcon Arabic.

Sweat, Pain, Bragging Rights: Would You Train Like This?

For most people, setting a fitness goal might mean running a half-marathon, joining a gym, or finally making peace with their yoga mat.

But for a growing number of people in Silicon Valley (often wealthy founders, investors, and execs) those goals aren’t extreme enough, reports Nick Wingfield in The Information.

Instead, they're taking on challenges like 100-mile runs through San Francisco, nearly five-day ultramarathons in the desert, competitive lifts of up to 1,000 pounds, and 2,700-mile ocean rows — all while managing jobs, launching startups, and navigating fundraising rounds. 😲

Some say it’s about testing their limits. Others say it’s how they clear their heads after days of meetings and code.

It’s part workout, part lifestyle flex. And it’s definitely not for the faint of heart (or hamstring). What do you think?

AI Around The World

At a time when the US and China are locked in fierce competition over AI, the Singapore Consensus marks a rare moment of collaboration: researchers from both countries, along with peers from Europe and other regions, met in Singapore to jointly address the global risks of powerful AI systems. The Singapore Consensus is an international roadmap for AI safety research, developed by over 100 experts from 11 countries.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has a surprising way of keeping up with podcasts: instead of listening, he uses AI to talk to them. Nadella explained that he loads transcripts into Microsoft Copilot and chats with the AI about them. “The best way for me to consume podcasts is… to have a conversation with the transcript on my commute,” he said.

India-based Alt Carbon has raised $12 million to scale its carbon removal efforts in South Asia using Enhanced Rock Weathering, which captures CO₂ by spreading crushed volcanic rock on farmland. This process also boosts soil health and crop yields. With its blend "Hari Maati" and projects like the Darjeeling Revival, the company aims to remove 5 million tons of CO₂ by 2030.