Data centers are allegedly an unmitigated disaster: They guzzle water, strain electric grids, and raise prices, all while offering almost nothing in return. Little wonder that according to a recent Gallup poll, 71 percent of Americans oppose the construction of new AI data centers in their area. Politicians of both parties are proposing moratoriums on new builds, and local officials who have approved construction in the past are losing reelection because of it. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently captured a popular feeling about the pointlessness of building new data centers for the purpose of powering AI: 'Oh, we've got to build a data center and charge you more because we want to do videos where I can put your head on Marlon Brando's body and you can be Don Corleone.' But the data-center panic is overblown. Most of the complaints inflate the costs of data centers and overlook the fact that, in some contexts at least, they can bring real benefits. If saying no is good politics, it isn't always good policy....

' Hey, Linas here! Every day, I break down 3 stories shaping the future of FinTech & Artificial Intelligence - plus the money movements and trends worth tracking. First time here' 393k+ FinTech and AI leaders get this daily. Join them: Claude Fable 5 is the most capable model Anthropic has ever shipped, and most people are simply wasting it. They open a chat, type the same prompt they would have typed into Sonnet, watch it think for five minutes, and close the tab. Then they decide Fable 5 is overhyped. Anthropic describes Fable 5 as a model built for 'problems that were previously too complex, long-running, or ambiguous,' designed for end-to-end work that takes a person hours, days, or weeks to complete. The teams getting the best results are thus not testing it on snake games and to-do apps. They are pointing it at their hardest unsolved problems: codebase audits that used to take a week, IC memos that used to take three analysts, market maps that used to require a research firm, multi-day product builds that used to need a senior engineer....

The test ' part of a project called First Proof, which aims to evaluate the ability of AI to solve complex questions in mathematics ' posed ten research-level maths problems to four AI systems. A jury of anonymous human specialists in the relevant mathematical fields then assessed the models' answers. This test was the first of its kind to satisfy three key conditions simultaneously: first, it consisted of research-level maths questions; second, it involved problems that did not appear in the training data; and third, it was formally graded by mathematicians. The results were unveiled on the First Proof website on 10 June. These findings follow recent AI breakthroughs in solving maths problems. Last month, for example, a chatbot made by the technology firm OpenAI, in San Francisco, California, solved an 80-year-old maths challenge set by the late mathematician Paul Erdos. The First Proof team says that future iterations of the test could help researchers to judge how useful AI models could be for mathematicians; for example, in solving problems autonomously, checking proofs or acting as research assistants....

One of Europe's leading AI startups, Mistral launched in 2023 with the stated ambition to 'put frontier AI in the hands of everyone.' The company has taken a more open approach to its AI development compared to its American rivals, offering some foundational large language models with open weights, allowing anyone to customize them as they see fit. Lately, with European countries distancing themselves from American tech, Mistral has positioned itself as a friendlier, 'sovereign' and homegrown alternative. The company is setting up a data center near Paris and has partnered with France's army, the government of Luxembourg, and several major European companies. Still, Mistral has only raised about $4 billion to date, per PitchBook, a fraction of what U.S. rivals OpenAI ($186 billion) and Anthropic ($161.25 billion) have taken in. These labs are also valued much, much higher, reflecting how much further American labs have pulled ahead in revenue, model adoption, and enterprise demand. Get an inside look at what it takes to scale and succeed from leaders at Mach Industries, Founders Fund, and Shinkei Systems. Through candid fireside chats and high-impact networking, you'll walk away with valuable insights and new connections....