Nuclear-powered AI

Hi, it’s Drake in New York. Microsoft’s AI ambitions have put it in the middle of a nuclear-power renaissance. But first...Three things you [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, it’s Drake in New York. Microsoft’s AI ambitions have put it in the middle of a nuclear-power renaissance. But first... Three things you need to know today: • GameStop’s largest investor [became its CEO]( • Delivery apps failed to [block NYC’s minimum wage law]( • Google’s Pixel is challenging the [iPhone in Japan]( Atoms for AI The sea squirt is a translucent oblong marine invertebrate. It spends the first phase of its existence swimming around before latching onto a rock and settling down to a simpler, sedentary life. Then, no longer needing to navigate the world, it dispenses with a chunk of its brain matter. Why waste energy on something you don’t need anymore? The point is: Thinking, despite its benefits, is a lot of work, and it’s energy-intensive — human brains consume hundreds of calories a day. Artificial intelligence has much the same problem. While we can argue whether AI systems truly think and learn, they’re gobbling up enormous amounts of energy. All of those neural networks furiously training on an internet’s worth of data have a voracious appetite for electricity, as do the cooling systems needed to keep them from overheating. The companies that have bet their future on AI know this, and they’re working on ways to solve the problem. One of the most interesting is Microsoft Corp. Its partnership with OpenAI has put it at the front of the tech world’s AI scrum. And staying there will require lots of energy, including — by Microsoft’s reckoning — nuclear power. Back in May, the company announced [a power purchase agreement]( with Helion Energy, which has plans to start generating nuclear energy through fusion by 2028 (it already has built multiple working prototypes). This week, Microsoft posted [a job opening]( for a nuclear technology program manager, tasked with crafting a reactor strategy “to power the data centers that the Microsoft Cloud and AI reside on.” There’s something a bit sobering about the idea of powering our newest potential threat to humanity with a technology associated with another one. Seventy years ago, atomic energy was seen as a miraculous bounty, and a solution to the world’s energy needs. Then, thanks to Chernobyl and Three Mile Island — and more mundane practical reasons like the extraordinary cost of building the plants — most of the world changed its mind. Now we’ve changed our mind again. Today, nuclear energy is [well into a renaissance](, and many environmentalists see it as a vital part of any strategy to transition away from fossil fuels. The new Microsoft job involves overseeing small modular reactors, or SMRs, which are built with prefabricated units. That means they’re theoretically cheaper and more reliable than the aging behemoths on the grid now. Over time we’ve gotten better at building reactors in efficient and idiot-proof ways, and we would be even better at it if we hadn’t stopped making them for so long. All those decades during which nuclear reactor technology stagnated left us further behind in the fight against carbon emissions and the changes they’re causing. Powering AI is an opportunity to push that process along. Part of the argument for going full steam ahead on AI, despite its dangers, is that it, too, will help us deal with catastrophes we aren’t even thinking about yet. Maybe that’s true. Either way, we’re unlikely to slow down development of the technology. That’s not the kind of animal we are. —[Drake Bennett](mailto:dbennett35@bloomberg.net) The big story The French telecom carrier Orange launched a boat to fix [underwater internet cables in the Mediterranean]( and strengthen connections between Africa, Asia and Europe. One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Technology TV analysis]( of Peloton’s deal with Lululemon. Get fully charged Microsoft discussed selling its Bing search engine to Apple [back in 2020](. Apple asked the US Supreme Court to review a previous ruling that [allows app developers to direct users]( to alternate payment methods. French authorities raided the offices of the chipmaker Nvidia in an [apparent move to exmaine anticompetitive practices](. Epic Games is cutting 16% of its staff as the maker of Fortnite becomes the latest [video game company to lay people off](. More from Bloomberg Live event: The Bloomberg Technology Summit in London will host top technology leaders, business executives, innovators and entrepreneurs on Oct. 24. The event will explore the rapid advance of AI, green technology, the escalation of cyber warfare and more. [Register here](. Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. 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