Houston's mayor says the city plans to spend millions of dollars to relocate residents from neighborhoods located near a rail yard polluted by a cancer-linked wood preservative that has been blamed for an increase in cancer cases

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Army on Friday became the second branch of the U.S. military to no longer have a

Kosovo’s prime minister is offering to hold new mayoral elections in four Serb-majority municipalities in an effort to defuse tensions with neighboring Serbia that flared anew last month

Artificial intelligence is using gallons upon gallons of water. Microsoft alone used more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water in its data centres last year. The latest numbers are leading to yet more questions about the sustainability and environmental dangers of the growth of artificial intelligence and related technology. Artificial intelligence requires vast computing resources, undertaking deeply complex calculations on behalf of people around the world. AI systems tend to be run in the cloud rather than on individual people’s computers, meaning that companies running them must operate vast server farms to deal with the queries of their users. Those server farms in turn need to pump in water to cool themselves down, because of the heat generated by those computers. That has long been a concern for environmentalists, but the sharp growth in artificial intelligence has led to even more use. Microsoft’s water consumption rose 34 per cent between 2021 and 2022, according to its latest environmental report, highlighted by the Associated Press. It was up to almost 1.7 billion gallons. Not all of that is from artificial intelligence. But Shaolei Ren, a researcher at the University of California, Riverside working to better understand the environmental impact of AI told the AP that the “majority of the growth” is because of the technology. Google also said that its water use had increased by 20 per cent over the same period. That varied across its different data centres, which are based in different parts of the US. For each 5 to 50 prompts, or questions, put to ChatGPT, it uses 500 millilitres of water, according to a paper that will be published by Professor Ren and his team later this year. Many technology companies have expressed concerns about their own water use, and how to minimise any negative effects of their data centres. The environmental concerns can be especially pressing because the use of water can be focused in particular areas around a data centre, meaning that the damage may not be spread. Google said last year for instance that “Wherever we use water, we are committed to doing so responsibly”. That includes analysing where water is being used and how much stress it might put on the surrounding area, for instance. Read More AI can help generate synthetic viruses and spark pandemics, warns ex-Google executive China’s ‘government-approved’ AI chatbot says Taiwan invasion likely Google launches AI to go to meetings for you

A trial is set to begin for two white men in Mississippi who are accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver who had dropped off a package at a home

WARSAW Poland's president will meet parliamentary party leaders next week, his office said, as the nation waits to

Tyler1 expressed his belief that parents should be held responsible for allowing their children to watch gambling streams

BASEL, Switzerland, BEIJING, & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 2, 2023--

Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning of North Carolina and a member of her staff were involved a "serious car accident" Thursday morning in Greensboro on their way to a district event, according to a statement issued by the congresswoman's office.

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Ukrainian officials paint a different picture - of pushing forward in the east and south-west.

Jurors have found “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson guilty of two out of three counts of rape and could get 30 years to life in prison