Tech
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Jon Keegan

Sen. Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez introduce data center moratorium bill

Tapping into the growing public pushback surrounding the data center construction boom, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, have announced The AI Data Center Moratorium Act of 2026. The bill calls for a halt to new data center construction until federal legislation regulating AI is enacted.

Lawmakers in at least 11 states have proposed pauses on data center construction, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition to halting new data center construction, the bill also calls for banning the export of advanced AI chips to countries that lack regulations that protect against harms from AI.

In a press release, Ocasio-Cortez said:

“Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses to our society. We must choose humanity over profit.”

Heading into the midterm elections, data centers are starting to emerge as a political issue following a growing list of projects that have been scuttled due to community opposition. President Trump has pushed AI companies to voluntarily pledge to “pay their way” for the massive energy requirements of data centers.

Sanders and AOC unveil data center moratorium bill

Sanders and AOC unveil data center moratorium bill

Lawmakers in at least 11 states have proposed pauses on data center construction, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition to halting new data center construction, the bill also calls for banning the export of advanced AI chips to countries that lack regulations that protect against harms from AI.

In a press release, Ocasio-Cortez said:

“Congress has a moral obligation to stand with the American people and stop the expansion of these data centers until we have a framework to adequately address the existential harm AI poses to our society. We must choose humanity over profit.”

Heading into the midterm elections, data centers are starting to emerge as a political issue following a growing list of projects that have been scuttled due to community opposition. President Trump has pushed AI companies to voluntarily pledge to “pay their way” for the massive energy requirements of data centers.

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Jon Keegan
10h
Altman: We do “weird” things like building massive data centers so there will be “universal prosperity”

OpenAI’s CEO spelled out the company’s principles for AGI in a blog post.

12th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony - Arrivals
Rani Molla
Let Tim Cook
15h
Apple is on its way to becoming the biggest smartphone seller in China

The memory crunch has made iPhones a more popular alternative as competitors’ prices rise.

CHINA-ECONOMY-FORUM
tech
Jon Keegan

Microsoft loses exclusive access to OpenAI’s models and tools while ending revenue-sharing deal with ChatGPT maker

Microsoft shares dropped as it announced a revised agreement with OpenAI.

The amended agreement ends revenue-sharing payments from Microsoft to OpenAI, and also ends Microsoft’s exclusive access to OpenAI’s intellectual property (i.e. models and products).

OpenAI’s revenue sharing with Microsoft will end in 2030, is subject to a total cap, and is no longer dependent on its achieving artificial general intelligence.

Amazon, a likely beneficiary of this lack of exclusivity, initially popped on the news but erased those gains.

This is a developing story.

The next phase of the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership - The Official Microsoft Blog

The next phase of the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership - The Official Microsoft Blog
tech
Rani Molla

China just blew up one of Meta’s key AI bets

China has ordered Meta to unwind its $2 billion acquisition of Manus, a Chinese startup (since relocated to Singapore) that makes AI agents and was central to Meta’s push to turn its massive AI investments into a real business. The move is part of the Chinese government’s effort to stop US firms from gaining access to Chinese talent and intellectual property, as Washington continues to restrict sales of advanced AI chips to Chinese companies.

Unlike its tech peers, which can sell AI through cloud services, Meta mainly uses AI to improve its existing ad business rather than as a stand-alone revenue driver. The decision strips away one of Meta’s clearest paths to monetizing AI — leaving it spending like a hyperscaler, without a hyperscaler business model.

China blocks Meta's $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus

China blocks Meta's $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus

Unlike its tech peers, which can sell AI through cloud services, Meta mainly uses AI to improve its existing ad business rather than as a stand-alone revenue driver. The decision strips away one of Meta’s clearest paths to monetizing AI — leaving it spending like a hyperscaler, without a hyperscaler business model.

tech
Jon Keegan

DeepSeek releases new V4 series models highlighting efficiency and long context

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has released a major new version of its eponymous open-source AI models that are nipping at the heels of leading frontier models in some areas.

The most significant DeepSeek-V4 Pro and DeepSeek-V4 Flash both have a 1 million-token context — the amount of information the model can actively work with in a single session — which is a crucial feature for complex, long-running coding tasks.

DeepSeek rebuilt how the models process information under the hood, making them substantially more efficient — and that efficiency is what makes the large context window actually usable.

Also, the new models’ coding skills have closed the gap with the major frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google.

The authors of the model acknowledge some of V4’s shortcomings, such as its lower scores on reasoning benchmarks, saying that V4 “trails state-of-the-art frontier models by approximately 3 to 6 months.”

As open-weight models, V4 can be run on any user’s own hardware, making the V4 models among the top-performing open-source models out there. V4’s large context and token efficiency are especially significant among open-source models.

But like with earlier DeepSeek models, don’t ask it about Tiananmen Square.

DeepSeek Unveils Flagship AI Model a Year After Breakthrough

DeepSeek Unveils Flagship AI Model a Year After Breakthrough

DeepSeek rebuilt how the models process information under the hood, making them substantially more efficient — and that efficiency is what makes the large context window actually usable.

Also, the new models’ coding skills have closed the gap with the major frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google.

The authors of the model acknowledge some of V4’s shortcomings, such as its lower scores on reasoning benchmarks, saying that V4 “trails state-of-the-art frontier models by approximately 3 to 6 months.”

As open-weight models, V4 can be run on any user’s own hardware, making the V4 models among the top-performing open-source models out there. V4’s large context and token efficiency are especially significant among open-source models.

But like with earlier DeepSeek models, don’t ask it about Tiananmen Square.

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