Solar and Battery Storage Dominate U.S. Electricity Capacity in 2024. Did Microsoft back down on deprectating Control Panel? Safety issues are once again coming to the fore in AI. And a woman uses Apple AirTag to strike back at mail theft
All this and more on the “Ricky don’t lose that number – send it off in a letter to yourself” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.
According to the Energy Information Administration, solar and battery storage accounted for 80% of all new electricity capacity added in the first half of 2024. And the trend is expected to continue, with projections indicating that these sources will make up 96% of new capacity by the end of the year.
Solar power alone contributed 60% of the 20.2 gigawatts of new capacity that went online from January to June. Notably, two large solar installations—one in Texas and another in Nevada—played a significant role in this surge. These states, known for their sunny climates, were at the forefront of the solar expansion.
Battery storage also saw substantial growth, adding 4.2 gigawatts, or over 20% of the new capacity. California led the battery storage deployment, with Texas, Arizona, and Nevada also making significant contributions. Some of the largest projects included the 380-megawatt Gemini installation in Nevada and the 300-megawatt Eleven Mile solar-plus-storage project in Arizona.
While wind power added 2.5 gigawatts of new capacity, its growth was modest compared to solar and battery storage. The Canyon Wind and Goodnight projects in Texas were the largest wind installations to come online this year.
Nuclear power also made a contribution with the addition of the 1.1-gigawatt Unit 4 reactor at Georgia’s Vogtle plant in April, making it the largest nuclear facility in the U.S. with four reactors.
Looking ahead, the second half of the year could see even more growth. The Energy Information Administration projects an additional 42.6 gigawatts of new capacity, with 25 gigawatts coming from solar, 10.8 gigawatts from battery storage, and 4.6 gigawatts from wind. This means that by the end of 2024, nearly all new electricity capacity in the U.S. could be emission-free, thanks to solar, wind, battery, and nuclear power.
This shift toward renewable energy is particularly noteworthy as it contrasts with the slower pace of power plant retirements in 2024. Only 5.1 gigawatts of capacity were taken offline in the first half of the year, compared to 9.2 gigawatts during the same period in 2023, with the majority of retired capacity coming from natural gas and coal plants.
Sources include: TechSpot
Two AI related stories.
According to former OpenAI governance researcher Daniel Kokotajlo, nearly half of the staff dedicated to AGI safety have left the company in recent months. This includes notable departures like Jan Hendrik Kirchner, Collin Burns, and co-founder John Schulman.
The resignations follow a broader trend within OpenAI, where the focus appears to be shifting from research on AGI safety to a more product and commercially oriented approach. In May, OpenAI’s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and researcher Jan Leike, who co-led the “superalignment” team, also resigned. Leike publicly stated that safety considerations were increasingly taking a backseat to the company’s product ambitions.
Kokotajlo suggests that this exodus reflects growing concerns about how OpenAI is balancing the development of advanced AI technologies, stating in one interview that he felt that OpenAI is “fairly close” to achieving Artificial General Intelligence or AGI and that they are not ready for “all that entails.”
He noted that while OpenAI has emphasized a commitment to safety, the recent departures suggest that the internal culture may be moving away from these priorities and staff working on AI safety are being increasingly marginalized.
In response, an OpenAI spokesperson reiterated the company’s dedication to developing the safest AI systems and engaging in rigorous debate about AI risks. However, with ongoing resignations and a shift in focus, questions remain about how the company will address the complex challenges of AGI development while ensuring safety remains a priority.
As OpenAI continues its pursuit of AGI, the debate over AI safety and the future of these technologies is likely to intensify, and many wonder how much risk these companies will take in the race to be the first to achieve AGI.
Sources include: Fortune
And a chilling reminder that we don’t have to be subjugated by a super intelligent AI system to be damaged by it.
In the early days of generative AI, a few years ago, there were a lot of sensationalized instances of bad and even threatening behaviour from the models. After what we assume was a lot of focus on guard rails, we saw fewer and fewer examples of this.
But apparently, Microsoft’s Bing Copilot has come under fire after falsely accusing a German journalist of serious crimes. Martin Bernklau, a long-time court reporter in Tübingen, discovered that the AI chatbot labeled him as a child molester, an escapee from a psychiatric institution, and a fraudster. These accusations were not only baseless but were also about crimes he had covered in his reporting.
Bernklau, who shared his ordeal in a video interview with German public television, has taken legal action against Microsoft. His lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company, demanding the removal of the false information.
While Microsoft initially promised to delete the misleading content, Bernklau reports that his name has since been entirely blocked from Copilot searches, but not without frequent changes and inconsistencies.
The misinformation has had a significant emotional impact on Bernklau, who described his reaction as a mix of shock, horror, and disbelief. The errors didn’t stop there; the AI also mistakenly linked him to a play about a notorious mass murderer because of a mention on his culture blog.
The situation highlights a broader issue with AI-generated content, especially for journalists and legal professionals. Bernklau noted that even when he tested Copilot with a local judge’s name, the AI incorrectly attributed crimes to the judge that he had actually ruled on.
Microsoft responded to the incident by stating that they have taken immediate action to address the issue and continue to update their systems based on user feedback. They emphasize the importance of users understanding that they are interacting with an AI system and encourage reporting any inaccuracies.
This isn’t the first instance of chatbots generating false information. Privacy groups in Europe and individuals in the U.S. have filed complaints and lawsuits over inaccurate data produced by AI systems, raising concerns about compliance with data protection laws and the potential harm of misinformation.
And in conjunction with the announcement of OpenAI’s move into AI assisted search, these issues are likely going to start and intense debate about safety particularly when the reputation and privacy of individuals are at stake.
Microsoft has clarified its position on the future of the Windows Control Panel after reports suggested it was being deprecated in favor of the newer Settings app. Initially, a Microsoft support document indicated that the 39-year-old Control Panel applets were being phased out. However, after widespread coverage and some confusion, Microsoft updated the language to state that many of the settings are being migrated to the Settings app, but not that the Control Panel itself is being entirely deprecated.
It’s unclear what Microsoft’s plans are. It certainly won’t be backing down on moving Control Panel functions to the Settings app. The new Settings app was designed to be more modern and streamlined, but over the years, while other parts of the Windows operating system have received significant updates and redesigns, many Control Panel elements have remained unchanged, with some designs dating back to Windows NT 4.0 in 1996.
So, while the Settings app is clearly the future as the primary interface for managing system settings, the Control Panel is not disappearing just yet. Microsoft seems to be balancing between modernizing the Windows experience and maintaining compatibility for users and older hardware that still rely on the traditional Control Panel.
Sources include: ArsTechnica
A woman in Southern California took matters into her own hands to catch a package thief with the help of an Apple AirTag. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reported that the woman, frustrated by multiple thefts from her post office box in Los Alamos, decided to place an AirTag in one of her packages.
Apple’s AirTags, which have been popular since their release in 2021, are small tracking devices designed to help users keep track of items like keys and luggage. In this case, the AirTag helped the woman and local authorities track down the suspected thieves.
On Monday morning, sheriff’s deputies were called to the post office after the woman discovered her mail, including the package with the AirTag, had been stolen again. The tracking device led deputies to a block in Santa Maria, about 16 miles away, where they arrested a 27-year-old woman from Santa Maria and a 37-year-old man from Riverside.
Among the stolen items found were the woman’s package and AirTag, as well as mail believed to belong to more than a dozen other victims. The suspects were booked on multiple charges, including possession of checks with intent to commit fraud, conspiracy, and identity and credit card theft. The 37-year-old suspect also faced additional burglary and theft charges from Riverside County.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office praised the woman for notifying law enforcement instead of confronting the suspects herself, which allowed for a safe resolution and the arrest of the alleged thieves.
Sources include: Castanet.net
And that’s our show for today. You can find show notes at our news site technewsday.com or .ca take you pick.
Thanks for listening. I’m your host Jim Love, have a Wonderful Wednesday.
