Google Wants To Go Nuclear

How much power big tech companies require, mainly for AI and cloud computing data centres, can be seen in Google’s plan of acquiring nuclear energy for future needs. Last October, it had signed an agreement to purchase nuclear energy from Kairos Power, which plans to generate it through small modular reactors using nuclear fission. Now Google has acquired a stake in Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a venture that aims to produce energy from nuclear fusion. Fusion is the process by which atomic nuclei join together to release vast amounts of energy. It is what happens inside stars. Google has not only acquired a shareholding in CFS but also made an agreement to purchase 200 megawatts of power when their commercial plant comes up in Virginia in the 2030s.

That is enough to power a small town. The technology and its commercialisation are still a work in progress but Google will assist in it. As the company stated in a blog, “Building on our initial R&D investment in CFS in 2021 for SPARC’s development, our new investment will support efforts to put their first commercial plant, ARC, on the grid… and as part of our agreement, we have the option to purchase power from future plants.”

OpenAI Break

OpenAI gave all its employees a one-week break in order to address fatigue after they were working 80-hour weeks and faced burnout issues. Only a few in the top leadership will be working. This comes right in between Meta poaching OpenAI researchers with extremely lucrative offers. It is said that the break is also a way to prevent employees
from leaving because of stress.

Nothing Headphone

Nothing’s phones came as a breath of fresh air with its transparent design. The company has now used the same strategy to get a piece of the premium headphone market. Nothing Headphone 1, which looks as unique as the phone, comes with a 40mm driver and active noise cancellation. It gets its sound quality through a collaboration with audio innovator KEF. The headphone is priced at a launch offer of `19,999 in India.

Siri Ai Travails

Apple’s travails with artificial intelligence (AI) continue with reports now that it is looking at alternatives like incorporating the large language models of Anthropic or OpenAI for its assistant, Siri. Previously, Apple had planned to do it in-house and an AI-enhanced Siri was to roll out early this year. With deadlines being missed, Apple changed the team responsible for it.

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