MSPs asked to pause Scotland's AI data centre boom Scotland has a new boom industry, at least if planning applications are taken at face value. The term "hyperscale data centre", rarely heard a few years ago, is now dividing opinion across the country as a rush of applications are made to build them. A debate at Holyrood later, led by the Scottish Greens, will call for planning applications to be put on hold until promised new national guidelines are in force, with an emphasis on energy demand and the environment. Ahead of the debate, ministers announced that all new applications for AI data centres will have to undergo an environmental impact assessment. The growth of AI is happening at lightning pace, so what are the advantages and disadvantages of Scotland being at the forefront?

NextDC has lodged an application with the Victorian government for fast-tracked approval to expand its controversial datacentre known as M3 in Footscray to cover 10 hectares. NextDC has lodged an application with the Victorian government for fast-tracked approval to expand its controversial datacentre known as M3 in Footscray to cover 10 hectares. Datacentre giant accused of using AI while lobbying for Victorian minister's support for hyperscale factory Exclusive: Correspondence requests state MP Melissa Horne to lobby on NextDC's behalf - but contains alleged AI-created errors Tue 15 Sep 2026 11.00 EDTLast modified on Tue 15 Sep 2026 11.02 EDT The Victorian jobs minister has accused one of Australia's largest datacentre companies of using artificial intelligence while requesting she lobby her colleague to approve a massive expansion of its "hyperscale AI factory". Correspondence between Victorian cabinet minister Melissa Horne and the chief executive of ASX-listed company NextDC, Craig Scroggie, reveals increasing sensitivity to community concerns about datacentres before the state election. NextDC has lodged an application with the state government for fast-tracked approval to expand its controversial datacentre known as M3 in Footscray to cover 10 hectares, drawing 225MW of power and running 24/7.

In early August, The Information published an article that claimed U.S.-based founders, investors and startups, are travelling to an electronics market in Shenzhen to buy servomotors, sensors, controllers and gimbals. The report also claimed that Unitree and Zhiyuan robots are being bought intact, then stripped down into parts and carried back to the USA in suitcases. By late August, in a separate development, reports emerged that a US Department of Energy lab is investigating whether Chinese LiDAR sensors pose a security risk, if widely used on vehicles in the United States. According to TechCrunch, the research is being funded by one or more companies in the electric and autonomous vehicle industries. Don't cancel any Shenzhen travel plans just yet, but engineers at Princeton have unveiled a motorless, origami-inspired robot that can roll, crawl, and change shape through a combination of magnetic control and multistable geometry.

When AI art has no author: Study finds generated images often can't be traced to training data When an artificial intelligence image generator produces a portrait, whose work went into it? The question sits at the center of lawsuits, licensing deals, and proposed regulations worldwide. Policymakers want a way to assign responsibility. New work from a team of researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) suggests that for models trained on large datasets, the question may often have no answer. It's not that the tools for finding it are inadequate.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Move to a new PC, back up your drive, and wipe the old one with the PC Transfer Kit, now only $35 for a lifetime subscription. Getting a new PC is exciting right up until you have to migrate all your files, reinstall all your apps, and try to dig up your license keys for software you don't want to pay for twice. A simpler option is to use the PC Transfer Kit . This bundle gives you three Laplink tools to move all your files and apps to your new computer, back up your drive, and securely wipe your old machine.

In their paper Credit-assigned Policy Gradient for Early Stage Retrieval in Two-stage Ranking, and study how to improve early-stage retrieval in two-stage decision processes. We caught up with first author Haruka to find out more. This is a project that she worked on during an internship with the Central Applied Science (CAS) team at Meta. What is the topic of the research in your paper and why is it an interesting area for study? This paper studies how to improve early-stage retrieval in two-stage decision processes.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Windows 11 can auto-adjust your monitor's refresh rate to save power Windows 11's Dynamic Refresh Rate saves energy by lowering your screen's refresh rate when you're not gaming. Here's how to enable it. Windows 11 supports the activation of a dynamic refresh rate (DRR) on monitors equipped with the relevant technology. When this feature is enabled, the operating system automatically adjusts the refresh rate to suit the user's activity.

Dr van Kolfschooten, the EU presented its at the end of last year. It aims to help member states develop new strategies in the fight against cardiovascular disease. What role does artificial intelligence (AI) play here? AI plays a key role in this plan. It is to be used extensively in all three areas on which the fight against cardiovascular disease is based: prevention, early detection and screening, as well as treatment and care.

Job seekers are trying to game the application process using AI. It's not working, and not for the reasons you might think. Jodi Beggs' résumé got dinged for being two pages long. She used her middle initial on one document but not another, which also cost her points. If she changed "percent" to the % sign, her score went up. Beggs, a data scientist and job seeker, got this feedback from an online system that compares a job description with an applicant's materials to assess how well they match up.

A screenshot of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test website shows tests are held twice a year. Slots to take the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in December filled up within just days after applications opened in late August -- leaving would-be test takers high and dry. The stakes of failing to secure a spot for the biannual test have become much higher as Japan tightens rules for visa applications and renewals to require proficiency in the Japanese language or passing a certain level of the JLPT. Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (JEES), the organizer of the JLPT, opened applications on Aug. 24. It originally planned to accept applications until Sept. 7.