NerdNews

The $100B Stargate AI venture will be powered by solar and batteries, with SoftBank-backed SB Energy building the renewable power installations. This move aims to address the growing energy demands of data centers, which are expected to consume 12% of US power by 2028. Solar and wind farms can be completed in half the time of nuclear and natural gas plants, making them a viable solution for the venture's energy needs.

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has released a free AI model called R1, which claims to replicate OpenAI's o1 reasoning capabilities. R1 uses chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning and has been trained on 14.8 trillion tokens using 2,048 Nvidia H800s. The model is available in multiple sizes, including a 671-billion-parameter version, and can be run on consumer hardware using Ollama and Open WebUI.

MIT researchers created an optical AI chip that can process photons directly, skipping the digitization step and achieving a latency of 410 picoseconds. The chip can perform linear and non-linear operations using photons, making it potentially faster and more energy-efficient than traditional computers. The team implemented a deep neural network on the chip, which recognized spoken vowels with 92% accuracy.

The article discusses the latest Android upgrade cycle, featuring the new Samsung Galaxy S25 series, Nvidia's powerful GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, and other tech updates. It also explores AI tools, such as Perplexity Assistant and OpenAI's Operator, and highlights a new social web app called Surf.

Adobe has introduced a new AI feature called Generative Remove in Lightroom, which allows users to easily remove objects from images. The feature uses Adobe's Firefly AI model to automatically recognize and remove unwanted elements, making it a powerful tool for non-professional photo editors. Additionally, Lightroom offers studio-level lens effects and a mobile-friendly workflow, making it a versatile photo editing suite.

Retro Biosciences, a biotech startup backed by Sam Altman, is raising $1 billion to extend human lifespan by 10 years. The company plans to launch trials for drugs targeting diseases like Alzheimer's and has trained a model with OpenAI to turn regular cells into stem cells.

LG Electronics has acquired a majority stake in Bear Robotics, a California-based startup that builds AI-powered server robots for restaurants. The deal values Bear Robotics at $600 million and gives LG a 51% ownership stake. LG plans to integrate Bear with its commercial robot unit to develop a comprehensive software platform for commercial, industrial, and home robots.

A US judge has ruled that the FBI's practice of searching data on US persons under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without obtaining a warrant is unconstitutional. This decision limits the FBI's ability to conduct warrantless searches, providing a win for US privacy. Additionally, a security researcher found an issue with Cloudflare's systems that could reveal app users' rough locations, and the Trump administration disbanded a review board investigating China's Salt Typhoon attacks.

Andrew Pavlo's annual database retrospective highlights significant license changes, growth of DuckDB, and new releases in 2024, including Microsoft Garnet and Valkey, with a focus on open-source databases and their impact on the industry.

Meta's new Live AI feature on its smart glasses allows users to ask questions about their surroundings, but it often provides obvious answers and struggles to understand context, making it unclear when to use it. The feature is limited by its 30-minute battery life and can be confused by conversations with others in the room.

Kodiak Robotics has made its first commercial driverless truck deliveries to Atlas Energy, marking a significant milestone in autonomous trucking. The trucks, equipped with Kodiak's AI Driver-as-a-Solution, operated without human safety drivers in an off-road environment in West Texas. This partnership is a key part of Kodiak's near-term go-to-market strategy, with Atlas planning to scale its driverless trucking deployments over the course of the year.

Rivian will launch a hands-free driving assistant system for its R1T and R1S vehicles later this year, followed by an 'eyes-off' version in 2026. The system will work similarly to Ford's Blue Cruise or GM's Super Cruise software, and will be indicated by a color-changing light bar on the vehicle.

UnitedHealth's 2024 data breach affected 190 million people, with stolen data including health insurance info, medical records, and personal info. The breach was caused by a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a UnitedHealth subsidiary.

A ransomware gang is using SSH tunnels to gain stealthy access to VMware ESXi hypervisors, allowing them to persist on the system and deploy ransomware payloads without being detected. The attackers exploit known flaws or use compromised administrator credentials to gain initial access, and then use the built-in SSH service to establish a tunnel to their command and control server. This allows them to move laterally and deploy ransomware payloads, making it difficult for organizations to detect and respond to the attack.

Perplexity AI has submitted a revised proposal to merge with TikTok, giving the US government up to 50% ownership of the new entity. The bid includes an initial public offering of at least $300 million and allows ByteDance to retain ownership. This move comes after President Trump's administration expressed interest in a US-controlled TikTok.

Developer Daniel Supernault is raising funds on Kickstarter for open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, aiming to create a decentralized social network with end-to-end encryption and a non-profit structure.

Security researchers found vulnerabilities in Subaru's Starlink web portal, allowing remote control and access to a year's worth of vehicle location history. The flaw was patched in November, highlighting risks in connected cars.

An interview with Mark Weatherford, VP of policy and standards at Gretel, discusses the potential for states to lead the way in AI regulation, citing California's recent laws and the need for harmonization across state lines. Weatherford believes that states will likely take a more active role in regulating AI in 2025, and that synthetic data will play a key role in the future of AI.

The US has announced a $500 billion private sector AI infrastructure investment called the Stargate Project, aiming to improve AI infrastructure in the country. The project is funded by SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, with partners including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Arm. The investment will be used to build 10 data centers over the next four years, with the goal of advancing AI development and adoption in the US.

Apple is working on smart glasses, despite significant technical hurdles. The company is conducting user studies and developing technologies like visionOS. Rivals like Meta and Google are also working on similar products, with Meta's Orion AR glasses expected to launch in 2027. Apple's goal is to create a wearable device that can replace the smartphone, but it's a complex task that requires solving problems like battery life and processing power.