molly taft

NEW: I've been shocked by some of the numbers I've been seeing on behind-the-meter power plants for data centers, so I did a little math. less than a dozen gas plants being built to power data centers for big tech companies could emit a maximum of nearly 130 million tons of CO2e each year (!)

Google was really trying to hide its water use figures, to the degree that it got the council to try to keep its water use figures secret. The community finally got the actual numbers and found out Google was using 29 percent of the water in the community. www.wired.com/story/what-t...

“We should be asking, how much computation do we really need? How many resources are actually justifiable to put into this project? What are we actually getting out of it?” Read my interview with @mollytaft.com in @wired.com about some of my big takeaways from HYPERSCALE!

new research out today suggests that manmade climate change was actually responsible for pulling us out of the early stages of the next ice age (!!) my latest for @wired.com

Huge follow-up reporting to my scoop: The Guardian confirmed America Next—the conservative nonprofit founded by Bobby Jindal that was offering students $ to disrupt El-Sayed events—paid a firm registered to Tommy Teepell’s dad Timmy $250k for “canvassing and influencer marketing” against El-Sayed.

gonna be on @wnyc.org in about 20 min to talk about — what else? — why i love DIGGER so much :) wnyc.org/browse/shows...

Talked data centers, among other things, with @walthickey.bsky.social. And with that comes an obligatory shoutout for @mollytaft.com (Taft hive, stand up) www.numlock.com/p/numlock-su...

I've just become a citizen of DIGG NATION

Don't read this without watching the movie but @mollytaft.com's take on Digger is spot on, imo www.wired.com/story/everyo...

Seven of 16 planetary vital signs are in their most extreme state ever recorded, and El Niño is here to make matters even worse.

I firmly believe Digger will eventually be seen as a cult classic and so much of what @mollytaft.com says here is why

done and done. my theater was nearly sold out for an 8:30pm Tuesday night screening, which seems a good sign at least that LA audiences are still finding it. really worth seeing on the big screen.

Yep: “Digger strives to be a reflection of our current reality, where truth often doesn’t matter, and art is often funded by the very powers it rails against. While ‘Don’t Look Up’ was intended [as] a CTA, Digger simply kicks back and says: ‘This is where we are.’” apple.news/A1JmD1OakQ-y...

wondering which midterm races have been most fueled by data center dissent? i've got you covered — here's my guide to all the knock down drag out data center-fueled races i'm keeping an eye on for next month:

🚨 New Searchlight research, shared first with @mollytaft.com and WIRED, finds MORE THAN 100 planned data centers in rural America will be eligible for new tax benefits starting next year. www.wired.com/story/rural-...

NEW: starting jan 1, a new federal tax windfall could kick in for rural data centers around the country new research from @searchlightinst.bsky.social shows dozens of projects potentially eligible for the break — as hyperscalers battle backlash against dcs

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,  data center projects in rural areas could be eligible for major tax benefits starting next year. Some hyperscalers do not seem eager to take the free cash. www.wired.com/story/rural-...

I think if you want a demo of the mechanics of how AI doom-hype detracts from the climate push, listen to this Al Gore interview w/ @heatmap.news, where he dismisses the climate impacts (using a spurious comparison, imo) but treats the chatbot doom as serious and real heatmap.news/podcast/shif...

Important piece by @mollytaft.com: www.wired.com/story/data-c...

i did a little Climate Week postmortem on data centers: co2 emissions are far & away the most alarming part of the buildout. but there hasn't been much of a reckoning beyond climate spaces kind of wondering when it'll enter the larger convo, if at all, and what that may look like

kind of obsessed with the fact that there's an AA-style support group called Dogs Anonymous for owners who don't want to publicly admit they can't stand their dogs. by @jasooooon.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/inside...

@mollytaft.com also highlights that for all the noise and heat from progressive circles on data centres, climate is not a high priority within the 'environment' subcategory. locals are looking at air pollution, water etc. Social media's similar. Leaves whoever's left in the climate space to care

A Crusoe (fossil fuel company powering data centres) claimed no protesters at NY climate wk live near a data centre - but as @mollytaft.com points out, why is that relevant when climate impacts *everyone* *everywhere*? We *all* live near data centres, in that regard www.wired.com/story/data-c...

my latest data center column is tracking the fascinating rift growing between maga and trump on the issue: www.wired.com/story/donald...

Several people who spoke to us say that it's possible to regulate both, but exactly how involved AI companies are going to be in any new regulatory regime, and what kind of exemptions or deals may be necessary is still unclear. (see more from @regret.bsky.social) www.wired.com/story/the-ai...

But on the other are organizers and experts who assert that AI is already harming people--through things like surveillance, data centers, and algorithmic bias--and that these issues should be front and center, rather than potential future issues.

NEW from me and @mollytaft.com: As politicians scramble to figure out how to regulate AI there's a divide growing on the left. On one side, there's Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is calling to regulate the existential threat of AI--the "it will kill us all" possibility. www.wired.com/story/inside...

The left wants AI regulation. They just can't agree on what it should look like or how concerned they should be. www.wired.com/story/inside...

V good @mollytaft.com piece as always - this one's on why the proliferation of chatbots that constantly query and requery themselves on a loop ("agents") are so profoundly energy intensive, and set to drive even more energy consumption: www.wired.com/story/ai-age...