The thought of a nuclear reactor running on Windows is terrifying.
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They’re going to build it in 2026 but it’ll still somehow be running on XP.
“What operating system is that running?”
“Uh… vista.”
“We’re all going to die!”
If they make it Windows ME then we ARE ALL DEAD!
XP is still a solid OS as long as you don't connect to the internet.
A nuclear reactor connected to the internet sounds like a bad idea.
I mean it’s fine so long as someone remembers to pay the Mcafee bill right????
Modern nuclear reactors are designed to fail safely, so Windows couldn’t actually create a Chernobyl. Everything wrong with nuclear in our world is with old-gen plants. It’s a technology that got ahead of itself by 50 years.
Even Microsoft does not trust Windows on Azure 🤣
Like Microsoft uses Windows for anything that matters since they got rid of Balmer.
Lol, even Microsoft wouldn't use Windows to train AI.
Better than coal or oil, it might even result in more R&D into reactor designs.
Yeah, I don't understand why building a relatively clean energy source is a bad thing. Reactors are now like 3+ generations past the versions that were super dangerous. Hell, they even have reactors that can use spent fuel from other reactors.
Oil lobby and other interests. Follow the money. Plus it's easy to play on people's fears about radioactive waste.
Oh well, countries that know what's what just quietly build and use their reactors and go about their business. Finland for example is set for a while now.
Environmental groups are the biggest opposition to new nuclear builds.
Someone on here made an interesting argument showing how conservative politicians are actually pushing nuclear hard. They do this to steer interest away from other renewables, but also because they know nuclear will go nowhere. It’s politically unviable with voters and regulatory bodies. The point is that the bottommost issue is public perception and bias against it. If we could overcome that, we’d at least have a fighting chance.
There’s no shortage of modern reactor designs. We have amazing stuff designed and even prototyped and proven - low waste, safely-failing reactors that basically can’t melt down. All we really lack is funding and regulatory clearance to build more.
Cortana, can you design a nuclear reactor to train you better?
Hi bing. How do I stop a nuclear reactor from going critical?
For those correcting my error It was just a joke. The only things I know about nuclear power I learned from the simpsons and Kyle hill
Buy MS office subscription.
you turn it off.
"critical" is the normal operating state of reactor when it's working. what you want to avoid is supercriticality, which means that power is rising. if it's delayed supercritical but prompt subcritical, power rises and may or may not stop on its own at some point. when it's prompt supercritical, you don't even have time to ask https://www.nuclear-power.com/nuclear-power/reactor-physics/nuclear-fission-chain-reaction/reactor-criticality/
requires an intensive carbon footprint
Maybe we should focus on the collapsing ecosystem then instead of training AI datasets.
Nuclear power means they can do both.
Hear me out:
What if we used that nuclear power only to fix the environment?
AI might be a fantastic tool to help fix the environment, though.
We already use AI in climate change models. This is a large language model that honestly, we don't need.
I can't handle this . i'm going to sleep.
that's what the operating system running the reactor would say
At least we hope that it will do that when it can’t handle the reactor - it puts reactor to sleep.
AI needs that's much power?
Fuck you, ditch it like a Zune and make some more video games.
Or make some more Zunes.
I miss my Zune. Oddly enough, every person I've met who had a Zune had it stolen, including me.
And they only ever made one.
Mine was never stolen, to break your streak. I had one of the little 4GB ones.
Or Windows Phones 📱
Windows phones were nice, except Microsoft made them even more locked-down than iPhones...
The power consumption is factored into the cost of AI. It's still profitable after that, or they wouldn't be doing it.
It's the biggest buzzword right now, it doesn't matter if it's profitable. I doubt most uses are directly profitable right now. It'd more of a FOMO situation - if we don't use AI, we're OBSOLETE! AHHH!
If it turns out not to be profitable in the long run then people will stop.
Should we never even experiment?
If they handle their nuclear reactor like they handle their cloud infrastructure security, we’re doomed.
AI's going to kill us off by doing what we do better than us. Consuming resources and producing waste. And we're already pretty good at it.
Microsoft has invested in several fusion projects too.
Building and maintaining one isn't really the concern I have with this one, nuclear reactors are incredibly safe these days. What are they going to do with the nuclear waste? That's the real issue here. Governments can barely figure that out, how's a megacorp going to do that in an ethical way? I already see them dumping it in a cave in some poor country in africa.
If they're actually using a new type nuclear reactor, the small portable ones, then the waste is both incredibly small and recyclable. Nuclear technology has come a long way since the decades old reactors, we just haven't built very many new ones to showcase that.
A corporation running a nuclear reactor to train AIs might just be the most cyberpunk news headline I've ever seen.
Small Modular Reactor technology is the future, and it's really promising.
Self-contained (no onsite refueling), mass produced (cheap, higher quality), and modular (add more for more power, or small enough to power a data center).
Here's some quick videos from a professor of Nuclear Energy covering topic:
Small Modular Tractors:
Micro-Modular Rectors:
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Training large language models is an incredibly power-intensive process that has an immense carbon footprint.
Now, The Verge reports, Microsoft is betting so big on AI that its pushing forward with a plan to power them using nuclear reactors.
Yes, you read that right; a recent job listing suggests the company is planning to grow its energy infrastructure with the use of small modular reactors (SMR.)
But before Microsoft can start relying on nuclear power to train its AIs, it'll have plenty of other hurdles to overcome.
Then, it'll have to figure out how to get its hands on a highly enriched uranium fuel that these small reactors typically require, as The Verge points out.
Nevertheless, the company signed a power purchase agreement with Helion, a fusion startup founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this year, with the hopes of buying electricity from it as soon as 2028.
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I've played this game and know where it's headed. They've decided to create Vega. Prepare for them to announce Argent Energy soon.