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Microsoft is building datacenter superclusters that span continents

2 months ago
The 100 trillion-parameter models of the near future can't be built in one place

Microsoft believes the next generation of AI models will use hundreds of trillions of parameters. To train them, it's not just building bigger, more efficient datacenters – it's started connecting distant facilities using high-speed networks spanning hundreds or thousands of miles.…

Tobias Mann

Waymo Robotaxis Are Now Giving Rides On Freeways

2 months ago
Waymo is rolling out robotaxi rides that use freeways across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix for the first time -- "a critical expansion for the company that it says will reduce ride times by up to 50%," reports TechCrunch. From the report: That stat could help attract a whole new group of users who need to travel between the many towns and suburbs within the greater San Francisco Bay Area or quicken commutes across the sprawling Los Angeles and Phoenix metro areas. Using freeways is also essential for Waymo to offer rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the company is currently testing in. The service won't be offered to all Waymo riders at first, the company said. Waymo riders who want to experience freeway rides can note their preference in the Waymo app. Once the rider hails a ride, they may be matched with a freeway trip, according to the company. The company's robotaxi routes will now stretch to San Jose, an expansion that will create a unified 260-mile service area across the Peninsula, according to Waymo. The company said it will also begin curbside drop off and pick up service at the San Jose Mineta International Airport. It already offers curbside service to the Sky Harbor Phoenix International Airport.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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OpenAI GPT-5.1 adds more personalities, loses inhibitions

2 months ago
Updated model may deliver a bit more unwanted content, but will be polite about it

OpenAI on Wednesday introduced GPT-5.1, an AI model update that's "warmer," more conversational, and slightly more willing to blurt out unwelcome observations about sex, violence, and mental health in a way that invites emotional dependence.…

Thomas Claburn

Anthropic To Spend $50 Billion On US AI Infrastructure

2 months ago
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Anthropic announced plans Wednesday to spend $50 billion on a U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure build-out, starting with custom data centers in Texas and New York. The facilities, which will be designed to support the company's rapid enterprise growth and its long-term research agenda, will be developed in partnership with Fluidstack. Fluidstack is an AI cloud platform that supplies large-scale graphics processing unit, or GPU, clusters to clients like Meta, Midjourney and Mistral. Additional sites are expected to follow, with the first locations going live in 2026. The project is expected to create 800 permanent jobs and more than 2,000 construction roles. The investment positions Anthropic as a major domestic player in physical AI infrastructure at a moment when policymakers are increasingly focused on U.S.-based compute capacity and technological sovereignty. "We're getting closer to AI that can accelerate scientific discovery and help solve complex problems in ways that weren't possible before. Realizing that potential requires infrastructure that can support continued development at the frontier," said CEO Dario Amodei. "These sites will help us build more capable AI systems that can drive those breakthroughs, while creating American jobs."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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