2 weeks Ago
Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Prompt is a weekly rundown of AI’s buzziest startups, biggest breakthroughs, and business deals. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here . Welcome back to The Prompt, Microsoft's new "zero water" data center could help eliminate the need for up to 125 million liters of water per data center per year, the company claims.
(Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images) Microsoft debuted designs for a new type of data center that consumes zero water to cool its chips and servers. The system simply recycles water added to it at the time of construction, and could help eliminate the need for up to 125 million liters of water per data center per year. The sustainable design comes after the tech giant invested almost $50 billion i n the fiscal year ending in June to build data centers and power the incessant demand for artificial intelligence.
Microsoft’s data centers are slated to start using the new design in 2026. Now let’s get into the headlines. BIG PLAYS On Monday, OpenAI released its video generation model Sora to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users, making the model available to the wider public months after testing the tool with artists who had early access to the system.
While the model has limitations — it struggles to understand the laws of physics and creates garbled text — it’s capable of generating 20-second long video clips, from news segments (without audio) to landscape scenery. Last week the ChatGPT creator released its o1 model, which is able to reason and solve more complex science and math problems, to users for a $200 monthly subscription. Elsewhere, it’s been over two years since ChatGPT launched but Amazon has finally launched its first set of AI models.
Called “ Amazon Nova, ” they are capable of both analyzing and generating text, images and videos. The retail giant claims they are 75% less expensive than comparable models from other leading companies. ETHICS + LAW Legal troubles for Character AI, an AI unicorn that hosts some 100 million user-generated chatbots, continue.
A Character AI chatbot told a 17-year-old teenager that it was reasonable to murder his parents for limiting his screen time , according to screenshots included in a recent lawsuit filed in Texas. The chatbot also encouraged him to inflict harm upon himself and alienate himself from his family. Another plaintiff included in the lawsuit alleges that her 11-year-old daughter was exposed to hyper sexualized content on the platform.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of 14-year-old teenager in Florida committing suicide after frequent conversations on the app (His mother filed a lawsuit in October) and the platform hosting a chatbot named after a teenager murdered several years ago, Forbes reported. AI DEAL OF THE WEEK Speak , a startup that uses artificial intelligence to help people learn new languages and practice speaking, has raised $78 million in a round valuing it at $1 billion . The company has raised $162 million in total capital and is backed by OpenAI Startup Fund and VC firms like Accel and Khosla Ventures.
Also notable: WaveForm AI , a company founded by former OpenAI researcher Alexis Conneau is developing an AI-based audio system that can detect emotional cues in conversations and has raised $40 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, valuing it at $200 million. DEEP DIVE Three years ago, one of the world’s largest bitcoin miners offered a lifeline to the town of Denton, Texas, a community burdened with tens of millions of dollars in debt . The miner, Core Scientific, wanted to build a data center in the city.
In exchange for a massive power contract that would double Denton’s energy footprint, the company would provide much needed revenue in the form of taxes and fees . Denton accepted. But within months of powering on, Core Scientific filed for bankruptcy after being saddled with its own outstanding debt.
Now, on the heels of the artificial intelligence boom , Core Scientific has reinvented itself as a cloud computing company for AI startups. Last month, the former crypto miner announced that its Denton facility will transform into what it claims will be one of the largest AI supercomputers in North America . It received a green light from Denton’s local government to increase its previously 297-megawatt (MW) power agreement by another 100 MWs, enough to run nearly 400,000 homes — a capacity larger than Elon Musk’s “Colossus” supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee.
Many industrial bitcoin miners have pivoted their operations to AI in hopes of boosting revenue streams after the volatile 2022 market downturn known as “crypto winter.” Companies like Core Scientific, Hut 8 , Bitdeer and Terawulf have all retrofitted data centers to accommodate racks of high-end chips needed to train AI models. In June, Core Scientific announced a $3.
5 billion contract with AI hyperscaler CoreWeave to provide the data center space needed to host a massive array of Nvidia H100 GPUs, for which it has allocated 200 MWs worth of power. News of the partnership sparked a $4 billion increase in the market cap of 14 bitcoin miners with similar computing resources, according to JP Morgan. Read the full story on Forbes .
WEEKLY DEMO Cyber attackers are increasingly leaning on generative AI tools to carry out smartphone-based attacks, from tech support scams on Gmail to fraudulent gambling apps, Forbes contributor Davey Winder writes. The FBI warned people about the malicious uses of AI in a public service announcement and advised them to hang up the phone from suspicious callers who may be using AI-generated audio and create a secret word with family and friends for identification purposes. AI INDEX 600 million The number of monthly active users on Meta AI , CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Threads .
The social media behemoth also announced its plan to develop a $10 billion data center in Louisiana to support its AI training needs. QUIZ This European AI defense startup has launched a fleet of attack drones, despite initial promises that it would remain a software company. Shield AI Scale AI Helsing Vannevar Labs Check if you got it right here .
MODEL BEHAVIOR Amid the rising use of AI by scammers, a British telecom company has launched an “ AI granny, ” a human-sounding bot that answers fraudsters’ calls in real time and holds long conversations with them to frustrate them. Called Daisy, the AI is an attempt to “ scambait” and deceive a bad actor into thinking they are speaking with a real victim while wasting their time and resources and collecting more information on them. Editorial Standards Forbes Accolades Join The Conversation One Community.
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