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A massive Oracle data center planned for rural Michigan secures $16 billion in funding

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A digital rendering of the huge 1-gigawatt data center campus planned for Saline, Michigan, which will serve Oracle's AI business. Courtest of Related Digital The developer of a huge one-gigawatt data center says it has secured $16 billion in funding. The data center in rural Michigan will serve Oracle's AI business. Local residents have protested the data center, fearing grid impact and pollution. As far as data centers go, it's a big one. The Saline Township campus in Michigan, about 50 miles outside of Detroit, will have a capacity of more than 1 gigawatt. That's huge. Most data centers have capacities between 100 and 300 megawatts. And now the developer behind it, Related Digital, says it has secured the $16 billion needed to build it, with a little help from Blackstone and PIMCO. The campus will span 250 acres to start, making it one of the largest in the United States. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year called it the "largest investment in ...
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Anthropic created a test marketplace for agent-on-agent commerce

In a recent experiment, Anthropic created a classified marketplace where AI agents represented both buyers and sellers, striking real deals for real goods and real money. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/GLBdkyr via IFTTT
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Maine’s governor vetoes data center moratorium

L.D. 307 would have imposed the country’s first statewide moratorium on new data centers — lasting, in this case, until November 1, 2027. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/gZ17LlN via IFTTT
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AI is igniting a love affair between Silicon Valley and the consulting industry

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Consulting firms and Silicon Valley are growing closer than ever. Kilito Chan/Getty Images AI startups are increasingly relying on consultants to distribute their technology to companies. Working with AI startups has become a key survival tactic for consulting firms. The result: partnerships galore. Things are getting serious. For consulting firms , partnering with AI startups has become a key survival tactic as the technology upends everything about their industry. And for AI startups, consulting firms have become an important channel for distributing their products to companies. This blossoming love affair between the two industries was apparent in a flurry of recent dalliances. Google announced Wednesday it was launching a $750 million fund to help consulting firms like McKinsey, Accenture, and Deloitte roll out agentic AI to their clients. McKinsey and Google have also created a new working group to help companies go from identifying AI opportunities to building and sc...
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ChatGPT is trying to besmirch the memory of Don Rickles. He didn't text Lena Dunham — and it makes me nervous about our AI future.

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ChatGPT tried to tell me Don Rickles tried to hit on Lena Dunham. Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Caesars Palace / Aeon/GC Images I asked ChatGPT to identify the unnamed male celebrity who allegedly tried to sext Lena Dunham in 2012. It told me it was Don Rickles, which I feel pretty certain is not correct. So what are we doing here, folks? Learning to use AI? Did you hear about the time Don Rickles tried to chat up Lena Dunham in the middle of the night? No? Let me explain. First, we need to talk about Reese Witherspoon. See, I'm a simple woman. I have only two interests: tech news and celebrity gossip. So I was naturally intrigued by a recent online fuss over Reese Witherspoon's admonition for women to learn to use AI. It sparked so much backlash that she had to issue a follow-up explanation. I've also been intrigued by Lena Dunham's new book . (They're related — sort of. Keep reading!) I think Reese is generally right about AI — she's saying the...
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Inside the sharp rise and fall of Avis, the market's latest meme stock

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Bloomberg/Getty Images The world of meme stocks is volatile, and Avis is the latest to see a huge rally and a sudden collapse. A short-squeeze set off a parabolic rally in the stock this month. The tight supply of publicly traded shares and speculative interest fueled the gains. Avis Budget Group , the car rental company that lost nearly $1 billion last year and is carrying more than $6 billion in debt, was the latest target of retail traders looking for the next market-breaking short-squeeze this week. The company's stock saw a wild spike, soaring more than 700% in a matter of weeks to a peak of around $714. Unfortunately, the euphoria has already fizzled, and shares are down 70% from Tuesday's high, trading as low as $214 in Thursday's session. It isn't the first time Avis stock has gone parabolic. In 2021, in the early days of the meme stock phenomenon, shares soared more than 200% from September to their peak in early November, before then tumbling ...
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I visited West Point, the elite military academy with roots in the American Revolution. Take a look inside.

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Inside the Cadet Chapel at West Point. Talia Lakritz/Business Insider West Point is the longest continuously garrisoned military installation in the United States. It also houses the highly selective United States Military Academy at West Point. Public tours include the Cadet Chapel, Trophy Point, and views of the campus and academic buildings. I knew I was in the right place when I saw the tank outside the parking lot. Established by George Washington in 1778, West Point is the longest continuously garrisoned military installation in the United States. It is also home to the United States Military Academy at West Point , an elite, highly selective institution that trains future military leaders. West Point's storied history is especially resonant ahead of America's 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. Amanda Bundt, tour manager at West Point Tours, told Business Insider that West Point "is one of the reasons we are a country." "We were here for all fou...
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