AI Politics II - FT Edition
Saw this band with Jack McGurk a few months before this at the Park West, yeah it was this good.
Well now I'm looking for the dum dum boys
Where are you now, when I need your noise
Folks, what can be said of the value of Life in the 21st Century? Yesterday, I put out a piece explaining the energy idiocy of what's marketed as AI. Today, the FT has two well worth reading pieces on this very subject. Yes, once again I scooped the FT.
The first piece is about the nukes and the FT does a wonderful job of thrashing Oklo. In regards to Oklo innovation:
"Some experts point to the failure of sodium-cooled reactors built in the US between 1950 and 1976. Critics also note proliferation risks because Oklo’s plans would see plutonium move into private industry hands, where it could be at risk of diversion or theft by those who seek to build an atomic bomb."
And,
"A decision by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a previous Oklo application to build a sodium-cooled reactor in 2022 has also raised questions."
“That NRC deemed Oklo beyond help should be a red flag,” said Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and former chair at the regulator now at the University of British Columbia."
It's just the damnedest thing how in humanity's most technologically proliferate era bullshit is the greatest product.
I mentioned gas in the piece, but didn't go into detail. The other FT piece goes into the problems of getting turbines and supply. The FT writes,
"The computing capacity required to scale up AI requires reliable, round-the-clock power, causing the US to rapidly become the global epicentre of new gas-fired power plant construction. US energy company Entergy, for example, is building three new gas-fired power plants in Louisiana tied to Meta’s colossal Hyperion data centre campus."
Thus,
The supply crunch means customers are now having to wait at least three years if they want to procure a turbine from the oligopoly. The trio are increasing production, but not fast enough to meet burgeoning demand.
I hope you all got that figured in your AI investments. The FT adds, "The turbine grab fuelled by US tech companies has both environmental and geopolitical consequences." Come on FT – environment? consequences? – that's all so retro. Best, FT does a mid-story punchline,
"While turbines that can combust hydrogen to generate zero-emission power are under development, whether there will be a plentiful supply of clean fuel to burn for electricity is in doubt."
"In doubt" - Funny, funny stuff.
Not so funny, looking at supply,
"But if developing countries are priced out of the LNG market by the requirements of Big Tech, the huge growth in supply will struggle to find a home and new projects will be harder to justify."
I guess there will be no helping the Congolese. If the words AI ever leave your lips, both these articles are essential. If one had a modicum of faith in financial markets, which I don't, shorting everything and anything associated with AI would, well, place your bets.
Kudos to the FT.
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