💡 Premium Supporter recap + fact-based optimistic news
🌲 Europe's forests are growing. 😺 The number of cats euthanized in American shelters has decreased by 75 percent in ten years. 📑 AI scientist produces increasingly better papers – and an AI system can review them as well as humans.
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🤦 Here we go again
Last week I wrote about the false and exaggerated claims that AI consumes huge amounts of water (a single golf course uses more water than all ChatGPT usage).
And now it’s happening again.
A new claim about AI is now spreading in major media (such as CNN) and on social media. This time, it is claimed that a single AI data center can heat an area of over 300 square kilometers by between two and nine degrees Celsius!
Fortunately, this is not true.
There are several problems with the study, including that it discusses air temperature while the satellite data it relies on measures surface temperature.
Most likely, they have interpreted the temperature of the roofs of data centers and the surrounding new roads as a general temperature increase. But this is just the same difference as when, on a sunny summer day, you compare walking barefoot on grass with walking on an asphalt road.
This is an obvious objection, which they could easily have tested by comparing with other buildings that are not data centers—but they did not.
It is embarrassing to see how major media outlets uncritically spread this study, which has not even yet been peer-reviewed by other researchers.
Here I go through in more detail what is likely wrong with the study and how we can stop the spread of this virus.
🌖 We made it back!
Artemis II has rounded the Moon, and the Orion capsule carrying the four astronauts was, for a time, farther from Earth than any humans before.
As expected, we are now being flooded with amazing images. I think this one is my favorite so far.
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
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🤦 Here we go again: A new, very shaky claim about AI and heat is spreading fast
A non-peer-reviewed study with extreme claims about data centers and temperature increases is now spreading across both news and social media. Time to bring out the vaccine!
💡 Fact-based optimistic news of the week
💉 GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, show positive effects against at least ten different diseases
The FDA has approved GLP-1 drugs for the treatment of kidney disease, heart disease, liver disease and sleep apnea – in addition to diabetes and obesity. Studies show early signs of positive effects also in cancer, asthma, fertility, dementia and inflammation.
📑 AI scientist produces increasingly better papers – and an AI system can review them as well as humans
The quality of scientific papers written by the AI system The AI Scientist increases predictably as the underlying AI models improve. An automated reviewer built by the same research group matches human reviewers' accuracy when evaluating scientific papers.
🌊 Montana tribes restore their rivers after historic water agreement
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are restoring the Jocko River and other waterways in Northwestern Montana following a historic water compact with the state. Restoration work has already resulted in more bull trout returning to their native streams.
😺 The number of cats euthanized in American shelters has decreased by 75 percent in ten years
Ten years ago, the chance of a cat surviving a shelter was roughly fifty-fifty. Today, cats are being saved at record levels. The number of cat adoptions has increased by 20 percent over the past decade, and Generation Z has had the biggest impact on the increase.
🌲 Europe's forests are growing faster than they are harvested
Forest growth exceeded harvesting in 23 EU countries with available data in 2023. Romania had the largest surplus with nearly 40 million cubic metres more growth than harvesting. Sweden had the second largest surplus in the EU with 26.4 million cubic metres of net growth.
⚡ New fast charger charges an EV from 10 to 70 percent in five minutes
BYD's latest fast charger delivers up to 1,500 kilowatts and can charge a battery from 10 to 70 percent in five minutes. A charge from 10 to 100 percent takes about nine minutes. That corresponds to approximately 1,000 kilometers of range.
🎙️ AI talk or master class?
I'm giving a lot of talks and master classes on AI in several different countries. Happy to come to your organization.
Learn more at mathiassundin.org.
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