Datacentre investment boom is one of the biggest infrastructure gambles of this era, and Britain may be uniquely exposed

Stargate was to be the world’s biggest AI investment: a $500bn infrastructure project to “secure American leadership in AI”. Never shy of hyperbole, its key backer, the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, promised “massive economic benefit for the entire world” with facilities to help people “use AI to elevate humanity”.

Now, OpenAI appears to be dropping out of a part of the deal – the expansion of a flagship datacentre stretching across a swathe of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible manifestations of a frenzy of investment in the chips and power plants required to build and run AI. There has been a breakdown in negotiations over project financing, as well as the timeline of when the expanded capacity might come online.

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Every night I wake up to find the dog staring at me, but tonight a terrifying noise disturbs us all …

In the middle of the night I feel the warm breath of a creature stirring my hair. It’s too dark to see anything, but I know from experience that the dog is standing by the bed, chin resting on the mattress next to my head, gently exhaling into my face.

The point is this: to wake me up without waking my wife.

Continue reading...

Datacentre investment boom is one of the biggest infrastructure gambles of this era, and Britain may be uniquely exposed

Stargate was to be the world’s biggest AI investment: a $500bn infrastructure project to “secure American leadership in AI”. Never shy of hyperbole, its key backer, the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, promised “massive economic benefit for the entire world” with facilities to help people “use AI to elevate humanity”.

Now, OpenAI appears to be dropping out of a part of the deal – the expansion of a flagship datacentre stretching across a swathe of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible manifestations of a frenzy of investment in the chips and power plants required to build and run AI. There has been a breakdown in negotiations over project financing, as well as the timeline of when the expanded capacity might come online.

Continue reading...

Every night I wake up to find the dog staring at me, but tonight a terrifying noise disturbs us all …

In the middle of the night I feel the warm breath of a creature stirring my hair. It’s too dark to see anything, but I know from experience that the dog is standing by the bed, chin resting on the mattress next to my head, gently exhaling into my face.

The point is this: to wake me up without waking my wife.

Continue reading...

Datacentre investment boom is one of the biggest infrastructure gambles of this era, and Britain may be uniquely exposed

Stargate was to be the world’s biggest AI investment: a $500bn infrastructure project to “secure American leadership in AI”. Never shy of hyperbole, its key backer, the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, promised “massive economic benefit for the entire world” with facilities to help people “use AI to elevate humanity”.

Now, OpenAI appears to be dropping out of a part of the deal – the expansion of a flagship datacentre stretching across a swathe of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible manifestations of a frenzy of investment in the chips and power plants required to build and run AI. There has been a breakdown in negotiations over project financing, as well as the timeline of when the expanded capacity might come online.

Continue reading...

Every night I wake up to find the dog staring at me, but tonight a terrifying noise disturbs us all …

In the middle of the night I feel the warm breath of a creature stirring my hair. It’s too dark to see anything, but I know from experience that the dog is standing by the bed, chin resting on the mattress next to my head, gently exhaling into my face.

The point is this: to wake me up without waking my wife.

Continue reading...

Refusal to kowtow to US president has won public backing – and left Badenoch and Farage playing catch-up

It is not often that Keir Starmer’s allies believe he has Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch on the run – but on Iran, they think he is on the right side of history and public opinion.

“It could be the making of him,” said Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, who was first out of the blocks to say she thought Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran were illegal. “You’ve not had a British prime minister say no to an American president since Vietnam. This is a big deal.”

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Glen Powell indulges in some murder most profitable, and the influential rap collective arrive in the UK complete with a clutch of peerless classics

How to Make a Killing
Out now
Loosely inspired by the much-loved Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, here is a dark comedy that sees Glen Powell play an upwardly mobile schemer who isn’t afraid to murder his way to his inheritance. Directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal).

Reminders of Him
Out now
Maika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a woman who goes to prison following a car accident in which her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow) is killed. On release, she finds herself drawn to a handsome local bar owner (Tyriq Withers). Romance based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel.

Everybody to Kenmure Street
Out now
When the Home Office sent vehicles to Glasgow’s Kenmure Street to potentially deport some residents, everyone from the activist known as Van Man to a local imam to various schoolchildren spontaneously blocked the street. This documentary, winner of a special jury award at Sundance, tells the story of eight extraordinary hours in UK protest history.

A Pale View of Hills
Out now
Etsuko, a Japanese woman living in the UK, explores her memories of summer in 1950s Nagasaki, alongside an attempt to reckon with the more recent suicide of her daughter. Adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel, starring Suzu Hirose, Fumi Nikaido and Yō Yoshida, and written and directed by Kei Ishikawa. Catherine Bray

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Refusal to kowtow to US president has won public backing – and left Badenoch and Farage playing catch-up

It is not often that Keir Starmer’s allies believe he has Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch on the run – but on Iran, they think he is on the right side of history and public opinion.

“It could be the making of him,” said Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, who was first out of the blocks to say she thought Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran were illegal. “You’ve not had a British prime minister say no to an American president since Vietnam. This is a big deal.”

Continue reading...