The Download: Pelosi's successor targets AI and data centers face power woes Plus: The FBI is investigating Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's affair. Nancy Pelosi's replacement is ready to regulate AI As a California state senator, Scott Wiener authored legislation aimed at curbing the risks of advanced AI. Now, after winning a tight congressional race for Nancy Pelosi's open San Francisco seat, he could play a key role in setting federal AI policy. I spoke with Wiener only a few hours after he had been declared the victor. But he was already thinking about AI risk: during our 20-minute conversation, he used the phrase "recursive self-improvement" half a dozen times. "We need to slow this down," he told me.

Rethinking how metals are extracted could unlock lower-emission production, make better use of mineral resources, and strengthen critical-material supply chains. The metals industry has experienced transformational moments before: the Bessemer process, flash smelting, electric arc furnaces, and modern continuous casting all changed what was possible. Yet, for more than a century, most extraction processes rely on techniques and pathways that would be familiar to metallurgists from generations ago. Processes have become larger and control systems smarter, but the fundamental science behind separating metals from ores has changed less than many realize. Today's materials challenges are different from those of the 20th century, but why are critical metals still produced using largely the same scientific foundations? "We decided to go beyond the current constraints and look fundamentally at what's the best way to do this with the benefit of the scientific engineering knowledge and hindsight that we have today," says Caspar Stinn, technical director for extractive metallurgy at Outokumpu.

Big Tech sees a culture war over progress. But the real fault line is electricity: drawing it from the grid and generating it onsite provoke different kinds of backlash, neither easily solved by public relations. As voters went to the polls across the US last week, I was in Ashburn, Virginia, part of what's known as Data Center Alley--the world's largest data center hub. It's also where the backlash now sweeping the country arguably first began taking shape. Driving through it is surreal. Concrete monolithic buildings loom along every major road, with names like Skybox and CloudHQ.

As a California state senator, Scott Wiener authored legislation aimed at curbing the risks of advanced AI. Now, after winning a tight congressional race for former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's open San Francisco seat, he could play a key role in setting federal AI policy. I spoke with Wiener on Friday, only a few hours after he had been declared the victor. But he was already thinking about AI risk. The previous day, the AI nonprofit METR had released a report that had been widely interpreted as evidence that Anthropic had achieved recursive self-improvement, a phenomenon in which AI meaningfully contributes to its own advancement and AI progress potentially spins out of control. "It's very concerning," Wiener said, citing the report as evidence that we are quickly running out of time to regulate AI. "It was my hope that Congress would take decisive action before [the end of] this year," he said. "That does not appear to be happening." Wiener has been increasingly focused on AI in recent years, and he's made many of the AI safety movement's concerns his own: During our 20-minute conversation, he used the phrase "recursive self-improvement" half a dozen times, for example."We

Plus: Democrats are planning a blitz of investigations into Big Tech. This week, as countries meet in Antalya, Turkey for the United Nations climate conference, one topic is likely to dominate the conversation: artificial intelligence. The host has already called on countries to commit to ensuring that AI is designed, powered, and deployed in ways that support climate action. But so far, industries around the world aren't doing nearly enough to harness the technology to actually drive down the greenhouse-gas emissions heating up the planet. AI companies like to make very optimistic claims about AI's potential to help address climate change. The reality is far less promising.

Connected data, AI, and advanced modeling are helping scientists accelerate research and develop more sustainable materials. As companies look to accelerate innovation with artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and advanced modeling, the primary challenge is connecting new technologies to reliable data, scientific expertise, and the practical realities of bringing products to market. For specialty chemicals manufacturer Lubrizol, digital transformation is all about giving researchers the tools to test ideas faster, make better-informed decisions, and develop more sustainable materials without compromising performance. Girish Rao, vice president of information technology at Lubrizol, says the company is building a digital foundation that connects business processes, modern data platforms, and cloud infrastructure to support its research and development (R&D) teams. Their goal is to combine decades of accumulated technical data with the deep expertise of chemists and engineers who understand customer needs as well as the physical constraints of their work. Data scientists can help identify patterns, test new hypotheses, and model possibilities before researchers conduct physical experiments.

AI leaders claim their tech will fix the climate. The evidence mostly points in the opposite direction so far. This week, as countries meet in Antalya, Turkey for the United Nations climate conference, one topic likely to dominate the conversation is artificial intelligence. The host has already called on countries to commit to ensuring that AI is designed, powered, and deployed in ways that support climate action. But so far, industries around the world aren't doing nearly enough to harness the technology to actually drive down the greenhouse-gas emissions heating up the planet, despite some very optimistic claims from AI companies. In 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared that AI would unleash "astounding triumphs," including "fixing the climate."

Plus: Almost $2.5 trillion has been wiped off tech stocks. I watched a humanoid robot clean my apartment. It felt like a taste of the future. When I saw an X post about a new humanoid-robot cleaning service in San Francisco, I immediately signed up for the waitlist. I wanted my apartment to feel like, even if just for an hour. The device that arrived at my building belongs to Tau Robotics, a local startup.

I'm not the sort of person who typically pays for a house cleaner. I'm too frugal, and I kind of enjoy putting on a podcast and going to town on my tub with a Magic Eraser. But when I saw an X post about a new humanoid-robot cleaning service in San Francisco, I immediately signed up for the waitlist. I wanted my apartment to feel like, even if just for an hour. I was also motivated by journalistic interest.

Plus: America's data center boom has hit a political wall. Texas was the new epicenter of the AI data center buildout. Texas is the fastest-growing data center market in the US and ground zero for Big Tech's largest AI buildouts. But the blue wave that swept the Lone Star State may jeopardize that position. Democrat James Talarico won the US Senate seat, Gina Hinojosa won the race for governor, and Democrats will take control of the Texas House for the first time in 24 years. They won after making data centers a central issue on the campaign trail.