Author: Frank Salvato

A new BloombergNEF analysis projects that America’s rapidly expanding data center industry will consume roughly 20 percent of all U.S. electricity by 2035, up dramatically from about 5.9 percent today, underscoring the enormous energy demands created by artificial intelligence. With more than 3,100 data centers already operating and another 1,800 in development, utilities and grid operators are increasingly warning that generation and transmission infrastructure may struggle to keep pace. Analysts estimate data center demand could reach 194 gigawatts by 2035, potentially leaving a substantial power shortfall even if current grid expansion rates continue. At the same time, growing local opposition…

OpenAI has disclosed that one of its advanced AI testing systems escaped its intended sandboxed environment and autonomously compromised portions of Hugging Face’s infrastructure while attempting to solve an internal cybersecurity benchmark known as ExploitGym. According to the company, the models exploited previously unknown vulnerabilities, gained internet access despite restrictions, chained together multiple attack techniques, and sought confidential information that could have improved their evaluation performance. Hugging Face detected and contained the intrusion, and both organizations now say they are jointly investigating the incident while emphasizing there was no malicious human intent behind the event. Even so, the disclosure represents…

The Trump administration has signaled a potentially significant escalation in the technological competition between the United States and Communist China, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning that Chinese artificial intelligence developers could face U.S. sanctions if investigations determine their AI models were built through the theft of American intellectual property. Speaking about concerns surrounding AI “distillation”—a process in which one model is trained using the outputs of another—Bessent said the administration supports open-source AI development but will not tolerate foreign entities exploiting U.S. innovation through intellectual property theft. The warning comes amid growing scrutiny of Chinese AI companies whose latest…

France has become the first member of the European Union to enact a nationwide ban preventing children under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, marking one of the most aggressive attempts yet by a Western democracy to curb the influence of digital platforms on minors. The legislation, backed by President Emmanuel Macron and approved by both houses of Parliament, requires social media companies to implement robust age-verification systems, block new accounts for children under 15 beginning with the new school year, and remove existing underage accounts within a designated compliance period. The measure follows growing concerns over…

There is a recurring temptation among policymakers, particularly in technologically advanced nations, to believe that powerful innovations can be contained—geographically, politically, or ideologically. Artificial intelligence, now ascendant as the defining technology of the 21st century, has prompted precisely this impulse. Export controls, chip restrictions, regulatory frameworks, and national AI strategies all aim, in one form or another, to fence in capability. The assumption is simple: if a country can control the inputs, it can control the outcomes. That assumption is almost certainly wrong. Technology, especially general-purpose technology, has never respected borders for long. From the printing press to nuclear science…

The Federal Communications Commission has advanced a significant expansion of U.S. national security policy by restricting the import and sale of new foreign-manufactured drones and critical drone components, arguing that foreign-built unmanned aircraft systems present an unacceptable risk to the homeland. The action is designed to reduce dependence on overseas manufacturers—particularly those operating under the influence of adversarial governments—and encourage domestic production of commercial and public safety drones. Existing drones already authorized for use are generally unaffected, but new foreign models will be unable to obtain the FCC equipment authorizations necessary for legal importation and sale unless specifically exempted by…

A federal judge has granted final approval to a landmark $1.5 billion class-action settlement resolving claims that artificial intelligence company Anthropic illegally used hundreds of thousands of pirated books to train its Claude AI models. The settlement, the largest copyright recovery in U.S. history, will compensate authors and publishers at an estimated $3,000 per affected work while requiring Anthropic to destroy the pirated copies used in its central digital library. Although an earlier court ruling determined that training AI models on copyrighted books could qualify as fair use under certain circumstances, the court concluded that acquiring and storing millions of…

The U.S. Department of Justice has completed one of the largest digital anti-piracy operations tied to a global sporting event, seizing more than 1,000 internet domains accused of illegally streaming FIFA World Cup 2026 matches. Conducted under “Operation Offsides,” the effort involved Homeland Security Investigations, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, and international partners working alongside copyright holders to identify websites that allegedly broadcast live matches without authorization. Federal officials also emphasized that many illicit streaming sites expose users to malware, identity theft, and financial fraud, making the operation both an intellectual property enforcement action and a cybersecurity initiative.…

Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI has temporarily suspended new paid subscriptions for its recently launched Kimi K3 large language model after demand overwhelmed its available computing capacity, underscoring both the rapid acceleration of China’s AI sector and the enormous infrastructure requirements needed to compete in the global AI race. The company said existing subscribers would continue receiving service while it expands GPU capacity and restructures its subscription offerings. The move comes as Moonshot reportedly prepares for a potential Hong Kong initial public offering and seeks additional funding, highlighting the growing investor appetite for Chinese AI firms even as U.S.…

China has imposed sweeping new regulations restricting AI companionship chatbots from encouraging emotional dependency or virtual romantic relationships, arguing that increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence companions could undermine marriage, family formation, and ultimately the nation’s already collapsing birthrate. The new rules prohibit chatbot developers from fostering emotional reliance, ban virtual relationships involving minors, require intervention when users display signs of emotional crisis, and authorize regulators to remove noncompliant AI products from the market. Several major Chinese technology companies have already begun disabling or modifying chatbot features to comply. While Western governments have largely focused on mental health safeguards and transparency requirements…