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Microsoft has made the world’s first purchase agreement for nuclear fusion energy, betting that the next-generation technology will be capable of producing electricity at a commercial scale by 2028. The US tech firm made the deal with fusion research firm Helion Energy, which is aiming to have a 50MW nuclear fusion power plant set up within the next five years. This is despite several significant research hurdles that still need to be overcome before it becomes a viable source of clean energy. “This collaboration represents a significant milestone for Helion and the fusion industy as a whole,” said Helion chief executive David Kirtley. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we are confident in our ability to deliver the world’s first fusion power facility.” Nuclear fusion promises near-limitless energy by mimicking the natural reactions that occur within the Sun. It has been referred to as the “holy grail” of clean energy, as it requires no fossil fuels and leaves behind no hazardous waste. Scientists have made several major breakthroughs with the technology in recent years, with researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California announcing the first ever fusion ignition last year. This meant that they had achieved a net energy gain for the first time using nuclear fusion, marking “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century”, according to US Energy Secretary Jennifer Graham. At the time, scientists said that commercial nuclear fusion was still likely to be a decade a way due to the complicated and expensive nature of scaling up the process. Microsoft’s bet that it can be achieved in half that time marks the latest phase of the company’s 2020 pledge to be carbon negative by 2030. If achieved, Microsoft could become the first major tech firm to remove more carbon from the environment than it emits, while a longer term goal aims to eliminate all carbon the firm has ever emitted since it was founded in 1975. “We are optimistic that fusion energy can be an important technology to help the world transition to clean energy,” said Microsoft president Brad Smith. “Helion’s announcement supports our long term clean energy goals and will advance the market to establish a new, efficient method for bringing more clean energy to the grid faster.” Read More Nuclear fusion breakthrough holds promise of ‘near-limitless’ clean energy

LAS VEGAS & SAN JOSE, Calif. & TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 6, 2023--

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Artificial intelligence poses a major threat to humanity and the world – but also has a range of positive uses, experts have said. Those positive uses include the development of new kinds of life-saving drugs, revolutionary new educational technologies and ways to make media and art more accessible to people. But the potentially liberating and exciting uses of AI risk being overshadowed by the fear and panic over the potential problems of the technology, the experts warned. That was the conclusion of The Independent’s latest premium live event, which saw experts discuss the question: “How much of a threat does AI really pose?” To attempt to answer the question, The Independent’s technology editor, Andrew Griffin, was joined by deputy technology editor Anthony Cuthbertson and two world-recognised experts in their field. Andrew Rogoyski is director of innovation and partnerships at the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI, and Catherine Breslin is a machine learning scientists and consultant who previously worked on Amazon Alexa and at other companies, and now runs Kingfisher Labs, an artificial intelligence consultancy. All panelists agreed that one of the most pressing issues about artificial intelligence is it being used to fill the internet with “sludge”: “automatically generated noise”, as Rogoyski described it, that could make it difficult to tell humans from artificial intelligence systems. “If you think of how much we depend on information on the internet, the idea that it's filled with rubbish – it's bad enough as it is,” he said. “But the idea that it's automatically generated, I think, is the most real extant threat of the misuse of AI.” Catherine agreed and noted that “sludge” could be made up of not only text but also “images and video and audio as well”, warning that people are not aware of just how easy it is to create convincing audio and video that pretends to be somebody else. “We won't necessarily be able to trust what is real and what is not real and without better ways of validating where images and video and audio come from,” she said. “So I think that this being able to generate media quickly, convincing media quickly, and then being able to send it out on the internet and the speed and scale at which information disseminates there – I think those two things combined will make for interesting times in the future when we have to grapple with the realities of validating our media.” But even amid that fear, the experts said that there were many very exciting possibilities being offered by technology. “Some of the biggest problems humanity faces could potentially be solved by an advanced artificial intelligence,” said Cuthbertson, pointing to its use in medicine and elsewhere. Rogoyski said that many of the benefits of AI are already being “taken for granted”. The technology is already used in science, medicine, to moderate the internet and to improve manufacturing and logistics, he said, and in every day ways such as the organisation of photos on our phones and information in our search engines. Even the fear that people could lose their jobs to artificial intelligence might be misplaced, the experts said, if companies instead use the technology to augment rather than replace their employees. Already, legal professionals are using artificial intelligence to navigate court audio, and doctors are using it to transcribe medical notes – freeing those people up to do helpful work for their clients and patients, Breslin noted. The entire conversation – which included discussions on the military use of artificial intelligence, its effects on the arts, and much more besides – can be viewed above. Read More Google may soon roll out AI ‘personal life coach’ ‘I’m scared’: Snapchat’s AI posts image that terrifies users How much of a threat does AI really pose? Get your ticket for our free event

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