Reaching the UK’s energy transition targets will mean learning to love pylons – because burying cables is insanely expensive. CC-licensed photo by Grey World on Flickr.

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There’s another post coming this week at the Social Warming Substack on Friday at 0845 UK time. Free signup.

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A selection of 9 links for you. Highly strung. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome.

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Satya Nadella says AI is yet to find its killer app • The Register

Tobias Mann:

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Nadella thinks a better benchmark for AI’s success [than AGI-adjacent benchmarks] should be its ability to boost a country’s gross domestic product. “When we say: ‘Oh, this is like the industrial revolution,’ let’s have that industrial revolution type of growth. That means to me, ten percent, seven% for the developed world. Inflation adjusted, growing at five percent, that’s the real marker.”

Few nations achieved that pace of growth in 2024.

Nadella suggested that growth hasn’t eventuated because it’s going to take time before folks understand how to use AI effectively, assuming they find a use for it – just as it took some years for the personal computer to find its feet.

“Just imagine how a multinational corporation like us did forecasts pre-PC, and email, and spreadsheets. Faxes went around, somebody then got those faxes and then did an inter-office memo that then went around, and people entered numbers, and then ultimately a forecast came out maybe just in time for the next quarter,” Nadella explained.

“Then somebody said: ‘Hey, I’m just going to take an Excel spreadsheet, put it in an email, send it around, people will go edit it, and I’ll have a forecast.’ The entire forecasting business process changed because the work artifact and the workflow changed. That is what needs to happen with AI being introduced into knowledge work,” the CEO said.

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The question of where GDP growth really came from, and how big a role each computing introduction – PCs, spreadsheets, email, web browsing, broadband, mobile phones, mobile broadband, smartphones – added to GDP is one for the ages.
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Ship and Chinese crew detained after Penghu undersea cable severed • Focus Taiwan

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A Togolese-registered vessel and its Chinese crew have been detained after a submarine communications cable linking Taiwan and Penghu was severed Tuesday.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said it dispatched the PP-10079 patrol and rescue vessel at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to monitor the “Hong Tai” freighter, which was anchored 6 nautical miles northwest of Jiangjun Fishing Port in Tainan.

The CGA said it immediately issued broadcasts ordering the vessel to leave.

At around 3 a.m., the CGA received a report from the partially state-owned Chunghwa Telecom informing it that the “Taiwan-Penghu No. 3” submarine fiber optic cable had been severed.

The CGA said that it then began attempting to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage.

However, due to the difference in height between the two vessels preventing CGA personnel from boarding the Hong Tai, the CGA said it had to send the Cijin offshore patrol vessel and the PP-10059 patrol vessel to the scene to assist with boarding and detention.

The Hong Tai, which the CGA said was funded by “Chinese capital,” was later brought to Anping Harbor where it and its eight crew, all Chinese nationals, were detained, pending investigation by Tainan district prosecutors.

When PP-10079 radioed the freighter, its crew said the ship’s name was “Hong Tai 168,” which contradicted the name shown by its Automatic Identification System “Hong Tai 58,” the CGA said.

The CGA added that the ship’s name would be verified by an upcoming investigation.

According to the CGA, the freighter had been loitering near the broken cable at a distance of about 925 meters from the cable since 7 p.m. on Feb. 22.

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Drones and submarine cables. It’s the new warfare.
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Amazon’s subscription-based Alexa+ looks highly capable—and questionable • Ars Technica

Scharon Harding:

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Amazon representatives showed Alexa+ learning what a family member likes to eat and later recalling that information to recommend appropriate recipes. In another demo, Alexa+ appeared to set a price monitor for ticket availability on Ticketmaster. Alexa+ told the user it would notify them of price drops via their Echo or Alexa.

I also saw Alexa+ identify, per the issued prompt, “that song Bradley Cooper sings. It’s, like, in a duet” and stream it off of Amazon Music via Echo devices placed around the room. The user was able to toggle audio playing from Echo devices on the left or right side of the room. He then had Alexa+ quickly play the scene from the movie A Star Is Born (that the song is from) on a Fire TV.

Notably, Alexa+ understood directions delivered in casual speak (for example: “can you just jump to the scene in the movie?”). During the demos, the Echo Show in use showed a transcription of the user and voice assistant’s conversation on-screen. At times, I saw the transcription fix mistakes. For example, when a speaker said “I’m in New York,” Alexa first heard “I’m imminent,” but by the time the speaker was done talking, the transcribed prompt was corrected.

I even saw Alexa+ use some logic. In one demo, a user requested tickets for Seattle Storm games in Seattle in March. Since there were none, Alexa+ asked if the user wanted to look for games in April. This showed Alexa+ anticipating a user’s potential response, while increasing the chances that Amazon would be compensated for helping to drive a future ticket sale.

Unlike with today’s Alexa, Alexa+ is supposed to be able to interpret shared documents. An Amazon rep appeared to show Alexa+ reading a homeowner’s association contract to determine if the user is allowed to install solar panels on their home. Although, as some have learned recently, there are inherent risks with relying on AI to provide totally accurate information about contracts, legal information, or, really anything.

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(I think the “questionable” means you can ask it questions.) Free for Prime users, $20 for others. Looks like a big leap forward if you’re prepared to commit to Amazon running your home.
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It’s easier than ever to scrub your personal info from Google Search • Ars Technica

Ryan Whitwam:

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As Google’s 2024 antitrust loss proved, the company has worked very, very hard to ensure its search engine is the primary roadmap for the Internet. Google scours the Internet for data about everything—even you. And if you don’t want your personal info to wind up in Google search results, you can use the just-redesigned “Results About You” tool. The tool, which began its rollout in 2022, is easier to use now, and some of the most useful features are now better integrated with search results.

The first step in using Results About You—which has not changed—is a bit alarming when you’ve set out to obscure your personal information. Just head to the new hub for Results About You and enter your personal information. Google probably already knows your phone number, email, and even physical address, but this tells the tool what specific information to pluck out of search results. If that data is out there, Google has it whether or not you remove it from search results.

Before this update, most of the Results About You features were limited to this console, but the most important features are now integrated with the search results. They’re not exactly prominently displayed, though. When scrolling through a Google search (after the AI overview, ads, knowledge graph, and more ads), you can use the three-dot menu next to a result to get data about it. This menu now includes options to remove the result right at the top.

If you request a removal due to the presence of personal information, Google will ask for more details, but that only takes a few seconds.…If you’re requesting a personal data removal, it has to be your data.

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It’s the Right To Be Forgotten under another name, isn’t it. The data still exists out there, but you can’t find it through Google.
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AI linked to growing cancer risk • Futurism

Joe Wilkins:

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As the artificial intelligence boom spirals to epic proportions, big tech companies are throwing heaps of cash into massive data centres throughout the world.

Packed full of hardware to process AI queries, these data centers put out forest-melting levels of heat as they suck the life out of local energy grids and water tables to meet demand. They’re incredibly noisy as well — pumping incessant mechanical sounds into quiet neighbourhoods and driving away wildlife.

And unfortunately, the public cost of AI doesn’t end there. New research by academics at UC Riverside and Caltech is warning that AI data centres are also taking a massive toll on human health, in the form of diseases like cancer and asthma.

The study, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, looked at the production output of AI hardware over the past five years, found that air pollution resulting from AI development could cause as many as 1,300 premature cancer and asthma deaths per year by 2030.

That’s on top of a cost approaching nearly $20bn a year from the collective burden of health treatment, missing wages, and lower school attendance as a result of diseases caused by AI runoff. In 2023 alone, the total cost of AI-connected illness was $1.5bn, the paper found, in an eye-watering 20% increase from 2022.

The issue of air pollution is easy to overlook, because in most cases, the data centers are powered by local coal-burning plants, which tend to be disproportionately located near low-income and working-class communities. It also seems wherever they go, AI data centres drive up the local cost of electricity, saddling their host communities with a burden not shared by the rest of the country, let alone by Silicon Valley or big tech’s Wall Street investors.

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The estimate relies heavily on some handwaving guesses about the use of diesel backup generators at data centres (there’s no data presented on how much they’re used), the above-mentioned use of coal-burning plants (limited), and the manufacture of the chips. (Thanks Greg B for the link.)
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What would reaching net zero mean for life in 2040s Britain? • The Guardian

Fiona Harvey:

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The government’s climate advisers have published their latest official advice on meeting the UK’s legally binding target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. The advice, which covers the period from 2038 to 2042, contains dozens of recommendations covering all aspects of society. But how will Britons’ lifestyles change under these plans?

…Moving about: Perhaps as soon as next year, or by 2028, the CCC estimates that electric cars will reach the same price levels as petrol and diesel models. This is likely to spur greater take-up, and by 2040 no new fossil fuel vehicles will be available. But people should also be encouraged to walk and cycle, and public transport must play a crucial role, the CCC said. “Better infrastructure enables more people to choose public transport, cycling, or walking instead of driving, bringing the UK closer in line with countries such as Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands,” the report found.

Homes: Most people in the UK heat their homes with gas, but by 2040 most will need electric heat pumps if the UK’s carbon targets are to be met. This does not mean ripping out gas boilers – replacing old gas appliances with electric ones can be done when the existing ones wear out. This is likely to require some form of government intervention and support, as heat pumps are still expensive. Hydrogen, posited by some as a way to carry on using the UK’s existing gas supply networks to replace gas in home heating systems, is definitely out – it will never be cheap enough or feasible, according to multiple studies, and the CCC said its use would be largely confined to industrial settings.

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There’s plenty more – eating (different), flying (less), countryside and nature (more trees!), energy (lots more), working (in the green economy).
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The cost of burying our grid • Yes and Grow

Ben Hopkinson:

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The most in-depth study on transmission grid costs was done by the construction firm, Parsons Brinckerhoff. They found that overhead lines are the cheapest transmission technology with lifetime costs varying between £2.2m and £4.2m per kilometre (in 2012 prices). Burying the cables underground costs between £10.2m and £24.1m per kilometre, five to six times more. Importantly, underground cables were found to always be more expensive when compared to equivalent overhead lines. These are extra costs that billpayers would have to shoulder, when Britain already has some of the most expensive electricity in the world.

Not only are overhead lines six times cheaper than underground cables, they are also better for the local environment. Overhead cables are cooled by the air around them, while underground cables need to be spaced apart to avoid overheating. To match one overhead pylon line, as many as 12 separate cables in four separate trenches may be needed, resulting in a work area up to 65m wide. That means existing hedgerows and trees will need to be cut down to make way for the worksite. Plus all this digging threatens sensitive habitats and could damage archaeological heritage.

Once the construction is complete, access will still be needed for the life of the link, which means restrictions over buildings, trees, and hedgerows over the cables. Even with these restrictions it is much harder to quickly repair underground cables. If a fault occurs on one, it is on average out of service for 25 times longer than an equivalent overhead line.

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And yet there are people who bewail pylons (notably among MPs). I’ve lived near a pylon. You basically don’t see it.
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Intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard will fight ‘egregious’ Apple back-door order • The Washington Post

Joseph Menn:

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New U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has called a U.K. order that Apple break the encrypted storage it offers customers worldwide an “egregious” violation of American rights and said it could violate a law easing cooperation between the countries in investigations.

Gabbard wrote late Tuesday to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), saying that she had directed a legal review of the secret order and that she had not known of it before it was reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by other publications. The legislators had urged her to act just after her confirmation as the top U.S. intelligence leader.

“I share your grave concern about the serious implications of the United Kingdom, or any foreign country, requiring Apple or any company to create a “backdoor” that would allow access to Americans’ personal encrypted data,” she wrote in response. “This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors.”

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Very much looking forward to seeing Gabbard fight an order that has been in use in the US – access to people’s iCloud data with a proper court order – for years. In fact the US has been particularly eager to access data held on American companies’ data centres, regardless of the location or nationality of the data’s owner.
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The Casio Ring Watch is extremely silly, and that’s why I love it • The Verge

Victoria Song:

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There is no pretense here. This is a tiny Casio watch that sits on your finger. Casio made it to celebrate its 50th anniversary and to cash in on your retro design nostalgia for the halcyon age of our collective youth. It harkens back to the vintage watch rings of the ’80s and ’90s, which you can find on Etsy for $10. This particular one just happens to be fully functional.

Unboxing it, my first thought as a reasonable person is that no one should buy this. For starters, it’s currently unavailable on Casio’s site and is going for upward of $300 on eBay. (Such is the fate of limited-edition gadgety baubles.) In an age when eggs cost $5 a carton — $7, if you live in my neck of the woods — your money can be spent on more practical things, especially since you probably already own a dozen gadgets that can also tell you the time.

Not to mention, this ring watch only comes in a single 10.5 size. If your fingers are smaller, you’ll need one of two included spacers to make it fit. If your fingers are bigger, sorry. No fun for you. Besides, how practical could something like this be? Never mind that it has a stopwatch, an alarm, and dual timezone features. You’d probably never use any of them, because what are these, buttons for ants?

These were my mature, responsible adult thoughts before slipping on the ring. Unfortunately, the second it was on my finger, I morphed into the hhhehehe lizard.

It just looks cool. The Casio Ring Watch is the sort of dweeby chic that reminds me of childhood: before puberty and the consuming need to fit in, when wearing Disney princess tiaras and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles watches was legitimately cool.

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I guess not all tech needs to be useful. Sometimes just existing is enough. Probably one for women more than men, though.
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• Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more.

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Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified