AI and Energy go Hand in Hand...

Welcome back my Tech Curious friend. I’m so glad you’re here.

Looking for the latest tech news in an easy to digest manner…then look no further. Below you can find information about the most recent tech news. So let’s get started.

Table of Contents

• Rolling Back the AI Chip Quotas

• Dept of Energy Gets a New Computer

• Meta’s Big Move: AI Will Make Ads All By Itself

• Meet AI Needs Nuclear Power to Meet its Energy Nee …

Rolling Back the AI Chip Quotas

The Trump administration has officially canceled a Biden-era rule that would have limited the export of advanced artificial intelligence chips to over 100 countries without prior U.S. approval. The Department of Commerce argued that the rule was overly complex and would have hindered American innovation, as well as strained relationships with allies and partners.

While President Biden’s policy focused on national security with economic interests, particularly by grouping countries into tiers. However, industry leaders like Microsoft’s Brad Smith and chip makers such as Nvidia and AMD raised concerns. They warned that strict export limits could drive nations to seek technology from China instead. Commerce officials, speaking under President Trump, pledged to replace the scrapped version with a new framework focused on “trusted countries” while keeping AI from adversaries.

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Dept of Energy Gets a New Computer

The U.S. Department of Energy is building a powerful new supercomputer called Doudna, named after Jennifer Doudna, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize for a gene-editing tool called CRISPR. Doudna will be located at Berkeley Lab in California and is expected to be ready in 2026.

Dell will build Doudna using special NVIDIA “Vera Rubin” computer chips that will balance speed and be energy efficient. It uses liquid cooling systems to keep from overheating.

It is expected to be used by around 11,000 scientists and engineers to help solve problems in areas like chemistry, physics, biology, energy, and even national security.

The goal is to help scientists work on complex jobs that require a lot of calculations like studying molecules, using artificial intelligence, forecasting weather, finding clean energy solutions, and keeping nuclear tech safe—more quickly than before.

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Meta’s Big Move: AI Will Make Ads All By Itself

Meta (the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and more) plans to let businesses create, run, and target ads all using AI by the end of 2026. Companies would just give a product image and tell Meta how much money they want to spend. Meta’s AI would then do everything—make pictures, videos, and words for the ad, choose who sees it, and even help decide how to spend the money. This is a huge change because now ads need people like designers and marketers, but soon the AI could handle it all.

Meta says this will make things faster and cheaper—especially for small businesses that don’t have big advertising teams. It already has tools that tweak ads or make small changes, but this would take over the whole ad process from start to finish . The ads could also change a bit depending on who’s looking—showing a snowy mountain version or a city street version based on the viewer’s location.

But not everyone is excited. Big brands worry the ads might not feel as creative or special without people checking them. They also worry about whether the AI will keep their brand safe and follow the right style. While others wonder if the ads will focus on making Meta money, and not the client.

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Meet AI Needs Nuclear Power to Meet its Energy Needs

Meta has made a 20‑year agreement with Constellation Energy to buy electricity from the Clinton Clean Energy Center nuclear plant in Illinois starting June 2027. This deal helps keep the plant running, boosts its power by 30 megawatts, protects about 1,100 jobs, and brings in $13.5 million a year in tax money. Meta needs lots of clean, reliable power to run big AI systems—like its Llama models—for training and everyday use.

But even with this nuclear deal, Meta and other tech giants still lean on natural gas for now, because new nuclear plants take time to build and start. Right now, about 15% of the US data center's energy comes from nuclear and 24% from wind and solar. The U.S. Department of Energy warns that data center electricity use tripled over the last decade and could double or triple again by 2028, using up to 12% of the country’s power.