Latest / Connecting the Dots / AI Accountability, Creator Subscriptions, and the Cost of Infrastructure

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AI Accountability, Creator Subscriptions, and the Cost of Infrastructure · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfl Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Welcome to Connecting the Dots. I'm Alex.
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  And I'm Morgan. And it is Tuesday, January 13th,
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  2026. It is. And looking outside here in Sacramento,
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  we've got a dense fog advisory until about 10
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  zero a .m. this morning. be careful out there
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  yeah definitely and across the country it's actually
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  you know Well above average temperatures for
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  most of the lower 48 Mm -hmm, but there is a
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  wintry mix moving through the upper Great Lakes
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  today And that's going to spread out a bit right
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  through the Appalachians and Northeast tomorrow
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  and Thursday looks like it Okay, quick look at
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  the markets a little bit of a mixed bag the Dow
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  closed down slightly about point four seven percent
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  But it's still positive for the week almost one
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  point nine percent since last Monday exactly
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  and the S &P 500 Basically flat for the day down
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  point zero four percent But it's also up for
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  the week and Bitcoin is having a pretty strong
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  day up one point six four percent All right before
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  we jump into our main stories We want to give
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  over at OldGlory .com. OK, so let's get into
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  it. Let's do it. Today we're looking at three
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  huge stories from our Morningstar. That's our
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  internal SNARFL Tech article report. And they
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  all connect technology, regulation, and some
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  very real world costs. Yeah. The theme today
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  is definitely accountability. Who pays the bill
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  for all this innovation? Exactly. So our first
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  story is a big one. We're seeing a global crackdown
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  on AI deepfakes, and it's starting in the UK.
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  Right. The UK regulator, Ofcom, has just opened
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  a formal investigation into X. And this is under
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  their new online safety act, the OSA. It's all
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  because of some deeply concerning reports involving
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  the Grok AI chatbot. Yeah, this is a landmark
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  moment. This law gives Ofcom some serious teeth,
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  and the investigation is zeroing in on the creation
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  and sharing of illegal content. And we should
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  be clear, the specific charges are incredibly
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  serious. They are. The probe is looking at non
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  -consensual intimate images. Those AI -generated
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  deepfakes we hear so much about. And even more
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  disturbing, sexualized images of children, child
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  sexual abuse material, or CSAM. And that is the
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  absolute red line. Ofcom's job now is to figure
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  out if X actually did what it was supposed to
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  do to protect UK users. So what does that involve?
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  What are they looking for? Well, a few things.
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  First, did they take the right steps to prevent
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  users from even seeing this priority illegal
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  content in the first place? And second, once
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  they knew about it, how quickly did they get
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  it down? Exactly. But it's also about prevention.
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  They're looking at whether X properly assess
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  the risks to children on the platform. And if
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  they put in what the law calls highly effective
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  age assurance. Right, basically technology to
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  make sure kids aren't seeing pornography and
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  other harmful stuff. So let's talk consequences,
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  because this is where it gets real. It does.
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  If X is found to have broken the law, the fines
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  are just crippling. Up to 18 million, which is
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  what, about 24 .3 million US dollars? Yeah, or
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  10 % of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever
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  number is higher. Either way, That is a massive
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  hit. And that's just the money. Ofcom can go
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  even further, can't they? Oh, absolutely. If
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  things are bad enough, they can get a court order
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  to block payment providers or even advertisers
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  from working with X. So they can just choke off
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  the revenue stream. They can. And in the most
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  extreme cases, they can actually require internet
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  providers to block the site completely in the
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  UK. Wow. And this isn't just a UK thing, is it?
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  It feels like a global movement. It is. Malaysia
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  and Indonesia have already temporarily blocked
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  Croc. They said it repeated misuse. And Indonesia's
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  communication minister called it a serious violation
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  of human rights. That is strong language. It's
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  a clear signal that the days of, you know, move
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  fast and break things are over when it comes
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  to AI. And has X tried to fix this? Well, they
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  recently limited image editing features to paying
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  verified subscribers. Okay, so a paywall for
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  the powerful tools. In theory. But reports from
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  just this Monday showed that non -paying users
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  could still get to the generation tools through
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  the Grok tab. So the fix was leaky at best. Which
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  is such a strange look. You're basically making
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  the tools that are being used to create illegal
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  material a premium paid feature. It's a very
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  tough position for them to be in. The regulators
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  are clearly not waiting around for them to figure
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  it out. Right. So from regulatory costs to subscription
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  costs, let's pivot to our second story. Apple.
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  They've just announced a new subscription bundle
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  called Apple Creator Studio. And this is aimed
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  squarely at creatives, right? It launches January
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  28th. It is. And what's interesting here is the
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  strategy. Apple is pushing hard into services,
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  and this bundle is all about integrating their
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  best creative apps with a lot of new AI features.
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  So let's talk about what you get. The price is
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  $12 .99 a month or $129 for the year. Which is
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  a pretty good deal when you see what's included.
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  You get Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro. And the big
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  one Pixelmator Pro is coming to the iPad for
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  the very first time. That is huge news. But I
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  think the really smart move here is the student
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  and educator pricing. Right. It's just $2 .99
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  a month, or about 30 bucks for the whole year.
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  That's not a discount. That is a market lock
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  -in strategy. You get students and new creatives
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  hooked on your professional software for a price
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  they can actually afford. And when they graduate
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  and start their careers, they just stick with
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  what they know. It's brilliant. It is. But let's
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  get into the AI because that's the real value
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  proposition here. OK, so in Final Cut Pro for
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  video editing, there's a new transcript search.
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  What does that do? It's a massive time saver.
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  The AI transcribes all of your video footage
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  automatically. So if you need to find a clip
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  where someone says a specific phrase, you just
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  type it in and boom, there it is. Instead of
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  scrubbing through hours of tape, I can see editors
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  loving that. And then there's visual search.
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  You can describe an object or an action like
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  blue car drives past a coffee shop, and the AI
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  finds those exact moments in your footage. That's
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  incredible. And they're pulling in AI from their
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  music software, too. Yep. They're using beat
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  detection from Logic Pro to help you quickly
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  line up your video edits to the rhythm of a song.
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  It's all about making the creative process faster.
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  And these AI features aren't just for the Pro
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  apps, are they? No, they're trickling down into
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  iWork, too. So pages, numbers, and keynote are
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  still free for basic stuff. But the subscription
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  unlocks the really powerful AI tools. Exactly.
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  Like a new content hub, using generative models
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  from OpenAI to create images, or a super resolution
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  feature to upscale low quality photos. What about
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  for something like a spreadsheet? What does AI
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  do in numbers? This is pretty cool. There's a
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  beta feature called Magic Fill. It's pattern
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  recognition. So if you start filling out a complex
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  spreadsheet, Magic Fill sees the pattern. And
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  it just populates the rest of the rows for you.
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  Exactly. It could save hours of boring data entry.
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  So Apple is drawing a very clear line in the
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  sand. Basic tools are free, but the smart, efficient,
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  AI -powered future. That's going to cost you
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  $12 .99 a month. That's the new model, and you're
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  going to see it everywhere. Okay, that brings
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  us to our third and honestly maybe the most critical
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  story. It's about the literal physical cost of
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  all this AI. Right. We're talking about Microsoft
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  and its plan to deal with the massive local opposition
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  to its AI data centers. These things use a staggering
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  amount of energy, right? Almost unbelievable
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  amount. It's putting a huge strain on the U .S.
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  power grid. We're seeing reports of utility bills
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  going up for regular consumers in at least 13
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  states because of it. And the projections are
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  kind of scary. Data centers used about 5 .2 percent
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  of all U .S. power last year. And that's projected
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  to nearly triple by 2030. It could be almost
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  12 % of the country's total power usage. That
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  is just not sustainable. You can see why local
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  communities are pushing back. It's not just power
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  either. It's heavy water usage for cooling. It's
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  taking over rural farmland. Microsoft had to
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  pull out of a project in Wisconsin because of
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  this kind of opposition. Yeah, even President
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  Trump weighed in saying these companies have
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  to pay their own way. And Microsoft president
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  Brad Smith admitted that electricity is the heavier
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  lift compared to everything else. So what's in
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  this five point plan? What are they promising
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  to do? OK, so the biggest commitment, the one
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  that's making headlines, is that they will ask
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  utility companies to set higher electricity rates
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  specifically for Microsoft. Wait, they're asking
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  to pay more. That's the idea. The premium they
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  pay is supposed to cover the cost of the new
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  infrastructure their data centers require and
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  shield local residents from those rate hikes.
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  That is. Unusual? What else? They're also committing
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  to replenish more water than they withdraw, so
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  they're net positive on water. Okay, perfect.
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  And they're promising to pay their full share
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  of property taxes and create local jobs and AI
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  training programs. You know, I appreciate the
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  transparency of asking for a higher rate, but
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  how do we actually know that rate covers the
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  true cost? And that is the billion dollar question.
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  Yeah. Consumer advocates are really worried about
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  this. Why is that? Because these big bulk power
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  deals are almost always confidential. So it's
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  incredibly hard for anyone on the outside to
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  verify who's really paying for what. So we just
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  have to take their word for it. Pretty much.
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  And groups like Clean Wisconsin are still calling
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  for a moratorium on any new data center approvals
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  until there's a real comprehensive regulatory
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  plan in place that everyone can see. So the pressure
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  is on. This isn't just a Microsoft problem. It's
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  an industry wide problem. The bill for the digital
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  world is finally coming due. And it's showing
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  up in everyone's mailbox. Before we recap, let's
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  so let's tie this all together. Three stories,
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  one big theme. Right. First we saw global regulators
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  putting a leash on powerful AI. The UK's investigation
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  into X and Grok shows that the lawless frontier
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  days for AI are over. Then we saw how Apple is
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  using that same AI technology to change its business
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  model, bundling professional software into the
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  creator studio subscription, and using huge student
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  discounts to lock in the next generation. And
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  finally, the rubber meets the road. Big tech,
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  starting with Microsoft, is finally being forced
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  to pay for the enormous energy and environmental
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  costs of its AI infrastructure. The big takeaway
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  is that technology's impact is no longer abstract.
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  It's hitting communities, regulations, and household
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  budgets directly. Someone has to pay. You know,
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  it really makes you wonder. If the cost of regulatory
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  fines and the literal cost of electricity keep
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  going up like this, is it only going to be the
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  biggest companies that can afford to innovate
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  in AI? Could it freeze out smaller startups?
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  That's a huge question and I think we're starting
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  to see the answer play out in real time. We're
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  here to help at Snarful so reach out on our website
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  if you have any more questions. That's a wrap
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  on today's top stories. Remember, tech doesn't
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  have to be complicated and we're here to help
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  connect the dots. If you've got questions or
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  want to learn more, visit us at snarful .com.
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  Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next
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  time.