Breaking: Heat Emissions from Data Centres Massively Eclipsed by Hot Gas from AI Shill and Former British PM, Tony Blair

The jokes just write themselves at this point

daaaamn london

Violent flag-shagging racists deliberately run someone over. Fixed that headline for you, Guardian.

NEW: Mayo Clinic, the massive U.S. hospital network, is using what it describes as “Ambient Listening” to record patient interactions with nurses, including in emergency rooms, then using AI to process that collected data.

wow — the preprint host, arxiv, is banning authors for a year if they submit papers with hallucinated citations 🤖

The companies building surveillance tools in conflict zones are playing central roles in our lives The militarisation of tech is reshaping our townsquares

Retractions never get proportional attention. This one should.

We start with a shocking statistic: rich countries cut development aid by around 25% last year. and the remaining is increasingly, explicitly tied to their own economic interests, designed to benefit their companies.

Britain quietly approves $11.85m arms licence to Israel despite Gaza ban The UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has granted two new licences for the export of military equipment to Israel including an £8.7 ($11.85) million licence cover components www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260508-bri...

The purpose of these systems is disallowing people from using hardware and software not approved by Apple or Google. This is wrongly presented as being a security feature. Banks and government services are the main ones adopting it but Apple and Google are encouraging every service to use it.

“.. most months it’s the No. 1 consumer of water in the county.” @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

Microsoft and G42's $1B geothermal-powered data center in Kenya stalls after the government couldn't provide annual payment guarantees that Microsoft requested (Bloomberg) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Reform send Richard Tice, not Farage, who is cheered by some attendees. Badenoch well received. Govt minister Pat McFadden barracked after PM did not attend. LibDem leader Ed Davey was also booed, as were the progressive Judaism speakers at the antisemitism rally www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ma...

Israel continues to violate a 'ceasefire' agreed to in October with hundreds more killed across the Strip.

Google developers significantly misstate carbon emissions of proposed UK datacentres

The state of it

“How explainable is the tool such that a civil servant could explain why certain actions or decisions have been made by AI (e.g., why sort this constituent’s response into a certain folder, why summarise minutes to prioritise some information over others)?” privacyinternational.org/long-read/57...

“To switch on that one data center, we would need to shut off power for half the country,” he said of the project. “That’s when I knew there was a problem.” www.semafor.com/article/05/0...

“.. hyperscalers’ earnings growth this quarter was boosted by an unusually large contribution from equity stakes in private companies .. another sign of just how comically codependent the AI tech industry has become.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/be97...

Twelve British universities paid a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to “spy” on student protesters and academics including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine, it can be revealed. libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/bri...

An academic reports on multiple AI-generated papers being submitted to various journals in her name, and some science guy’s response is: NBD, as long as you don’t get blacklisted by the publishers. People’s selfish responses to these ecological crises continue to floor me.

“The dismantling of USAID, according to models from Boston University epidemiologist Brooke Nichols, “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children,” Gawande wrote.” hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-s...

Flaws in Kenya’s AI-driven health reforms driving up costs for the poorest

We must stand in solidarity with Jews being attacked by antisemitic criminals and terrorists: no ifs or buts. We must stand in solidarity with Palestinians being murdered by the Israeli government: no ifs or buts. These are not contradictory positions. They are consistent ones. 🧵1/5

The mob reaction in Epsom to something that - it turned out - never happened is a depressing tale of populism and misinformation, often by people who should know better. That’s the pattern. app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/73184/...

Pro-Palestine coalition condemns Starmer for suggesting ban on marches - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pro-palestine-coalition-condemns-starmer-suggesting-ban-marches

China is the reason why @rightscon.org, one of the world's largest human rights conferences attended by thousands, has been canceled in Zambia — a location specifically chosen to honor the Global South. I've been to the past three (Taipei, Costa Rica, online). Some thoughts... 1/5

🧵 The web is disappearing 🕳️ From Pew: 26% of pages from 2013-2023 are ☠️ A new study in VANISHING CULTURE gives hope: 16% have been restored through the Wayback Machine. 56% are preserved before they disappear. 📚 Read VANISHING CULTURE free from Internet Archive: archive.org/details/vani... ⬇️

Following our April 29 announcement, we believe it's important to be transparent about the context that led to the decision. We want to explain, where we can, why this was made on such short notice, only days before we were set to host RightsCon. Read: www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme...

🌍 PAIRSx Africa - now online and registration open! 🔈 Due to the cancellation of RightsCon, PAIRSx Africa will take place as an online online webinar on Monday, 04 May, 10am - 12pm Central African Time. 💻 Register to attend the session on Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @pairs.site

This has turned out to be right, hasn't it? It's the end of the road. The confluence of protests over genocide, the Iran War & upcoming shortages, the seasonal knuckledragger rioting over migrants, the wilful hariki of the govt. Somebody needs to pay, & it ain't ever the fuckers who should.

UNESCO is not stoked about Zambia's cancellation of RightsCon. They were going to be holding World Press Freedom Day in Lusaka next week. Not so much now.

Tor Project statement in solidarity with #RightsCon, @accessnow.org, local organizers, & civil society in Zambia. blog.torproject.org/rightscon202... The circumstances behind the cancellation underscore the urgent fight against censorship, surveillance, and restrictions on civic participation.

Wow, this is really bad. The Zambian government cancels @rightscon.org on the same day a Bill Gates / Sam Altman backed "AI mine" opens in Zambia www.techpolicy.press/rightscon-ca... www.news24.com/business/com... www.mining.com/web/sam-altm...

🔴 NEW - Revealed: Reform’s £24 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests Nigel Farage’s anti-climate party has received two thirds of its income from oil investors. 📝 @adambarnett.bsky.social & @writesbright.bsky.social

Canceling RightsCon would be a body blow to the digital rights and justice community. Perhaps if it's rebranded the AI Ethics Con governments would think twice before summarily dismissing all the work that goes into developing a convening and community like this.

the government of zambia is announcing that it canceled RightsCon. this is a serious attack on civil society, the global & local ones. thousands of people - activists, academics, govt etc - are en route to lusaka. to cancel at this late stage is just horrible.

Over the past several months, we've been deep in research, in conversation, and in active collaboration with communities, policymakers, and through that work, CC signals has evolved. Read our new blog post to learn more about this journey. buff.ly/i9CKx8T

The UK govt is Palantir’s 2nd biggest customer. Why? Or, more to the point, how? Our latest @thenerve_news investigation reveals a web of cronyism into the highest levels of govt. But Palantir also has a spin machine that uses political journalists to launder its PR 1/

Two Lebanese journalists were trapped by the IDF in South Lebanon. One of them, Amal Khalil, is still trapped. Israel did a triple tap strike. Again. The second strike injured the journalists. The third strike trapped them.

Israel targeted Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil repeatedly and eventually murdered her. 🧵 #AmalKhalil

The data work industry, which monetizes the collection of information used to train AI systems, is often shrouded in secrecy. But a new report maps out how at least 30 data platforms are quietly connected to Big Tech companies, Tech Policy Press fellow Tatiana Dias writes.

Palantir put out the most cartoonishly evil statement possible. They’re so arrogant and self-confident they don’t seem to believe their fascistic plans can be opposed. We must get rid of Palantir altogether. twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

many americans demonstrated repeatedly that the thing that would get them to participate in politics was to be told by a television celebrity that they could be rich and it was good to abuse the weak

However, President Donald Trump said the American naval blockade of Iranian ports will continue, and Israel responded to Trump's purported prohibition of attacks on Lebanon by attacking Lebanon.