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  • David J. Farber, celebrated Penn professor emeritus and pioneering ‘uncle’ of the internet, has died at 91

    David J. Farber, celebrated Penn professor emeritus and pioneering ‘uncle’ of the internet, has died at 91

    David J. Farber, 91, formerly of Landenberg, Chester County, celebrated professor emeritus of telecommunication systems at the University of Pennsylvania, former professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Delaware, professor at Keio University in Japan, award-winning pioneer in pre-internet computing systems, entrepreneur, and known by colleagues as the “uncle” and “grandfather” of the internet, died Saturday, Feb. 7, of probable heart failure at his home in Tokyo.

    A longtime innovator in programming languages and computer networking, Professor Farber taught and collaborated with other internet pioneers in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. He helped design the world’s first electronic switching system in the 1950s and ’60s, and the first operational distributed computer system in the 1970s.

    His work on the early Computer Science Network and other distributive systems led directly to the modern internet, and he taught many influential graduate students whom he called the “fathers of the internet.” He was thinking about a World Wide Web, he said in a 2013 video interview, “actually before the internet started.”

    “Farber may not be the father of the internet. But he is, at least, its uncle,” Penn English professor Al Filreis told the Daily News in 1998. “Few have paid such close attention for so long to new trends in the information age.”

    Colleagues called him “part of the bedrock of the internet” and a “role model for life” in online tributes. Nariman Farvardin, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., said: “Professor Farber did not just witness the future, he helped create it.”

    In 1996, Wired magazine said Professor Farber had “the technical chops and the public spirit to be the Paul Revere of the Digital Revolution.”

    He joined Penn as a professor of computer science and electrical engineering in 1988 and was named the endowed Alfred Fitler Moore professor of telecommunication systems in 1994. He left Penn for Carnegie Mellon in 2003 and joined Keio in 2018.

    Gregory Farrington, then dean of Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, told The Inquirer in 1996: “He’s one of the most engaging, imaginative guys who sometimes alternates between great ideas and things that sound nuts. And I love them both. His life is an elaboration on both.”

    He was a professor at Delaware from 1977 to 1988 and at the University of California Irvine from 1970 to 1977. Among other things, he created innovative computer software concepts at UC Irvine, studied the early stages of internet commercialization at Delaware, and focused on advanced high-speed networking at Penn. He also directed cyber research laboratories at every school at which he worked.

    He earned lifetime achievement awards from the Association for Computing Machinery, the Board of Directors of City Trusts of Philadelphia, and other groups, and was inducted into the Internet Society’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Stevens Institute of Technology Hall of Achievement in 2016.

    Stevens Institute also created a “societal impact award” in 2003 to honor Professor Farber and his wife, Gloria. “I think the internet has just started,” he said in 2013. “I don’t think we’re anywhere near where it will be in the future. … I look forward to the future.”

    Professor Farber earned grants from the National Science Foundation and other organizations. He received patents for two computer innovations in 1994 and earned a dozen appointments to boards and professional groups, and an honorary master’s degree from Penn in 1988.

    He advised former President Bill Clinton on science and engineering issues in the 1990s and served a stint in Washington as chief technologist for the Federal Communications Commission. Clinton called him a “pioneer of the internet” in a 1996 shoutout, and Professor Farber testified for the government in a landmark technology monopoly court case against Microsoft Corp.

    Professor Farber (left) worked with Professor Jiro Kokuryo at the Keio University Global Research Institute in Tokyo.

    He championed free speech on the internet, served on technical advisory boards for several companies, and wrote or cowrote hundreds of articles, papers, and reports about computer science.

    He was featured and quoted often in The Inquirer and Daily News, and lectured frequently at seminars and conferences in Japan, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere around the world. He wrote an email newsletter about cutting-edge technology that reached 25,000 subscribers in the 1990s, and he liked to show off his belt that held his cell phone, pager, and minicomputer.

    He cofounded Caine, Farber, & Gordon Inc. in 1970 to produce software design tools and worked earlier, from 1957 to 1970, on technical staffs for Xerox, the Rand Corp., and Bell Laboratories. In a recent video interview, he gave this advice: “Learn enough about technology so that you know how to deal with the world where it is a technology-driven world. And it’s going to go faster than you ever imagined.”

    David Jack Farber was born April 17, 1934, in Jersey City, N.J. Fascinated by gadgets and early computers in the 1940s, he built radios from wartime surplus components as a boy and helped make a unique relay device with a punch card in college. “The card reader was three feet big, but it worked,” he told the Daily News in 1998.

    Professor Farber enjoyed time with his family

    He considered being a cosmologist at first but instead earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in math at Stevens.

    He met Gloria Gioumousis at Bell Labs, and they married in 1965. They had sons Manny and Joe, and lived in Landenberg from 1977 to 2003. His son Joe died in 2006. His wife died in 2010.

    Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer

    Professor Farber enjoyed iced coffee and loved gadgets. He was positive and outgoing, and he mixed well-known adages into humorous word combinations he called “Farberisms.”

    He was an experienced pilot and an avid photographer. In 2012, to honor his son, he established the Joseph M. Farber prize at the Stevens Institute for a graduating senior.

    Mr. Farber was an experienced pilot who could fly solely on cockpit instruments.

    “He was bold,” his son Manny said. “He connected to a lot of people and was close to his friends. He worked on big projects, and it wasn’t just theoretical. He built things that work.”

    In addition to his son, Professor Farber is survived by his daughters-in-law, Mei Xu and Carol Hagan, two grandsons, and other relatives.

    A memorial service is to be held later.

  • Silicon Valley is building a shadow power grid for data centers across the U.S.

    Silicon Valley is building a shadow power grid for data centers across the U.S.

    The GW Ranch project approved on 8,000 windswept acres of West Texas will look like many of the other data centers that have sprung up across the country to support Silicon Valley’s ambitions for artificial intelligence. Dozens of airplane-hangar-size warehouses packed with computing hardware will consume more power than all of Chicago.

    But it’s missing one standard feature: The mammoth project, recently green-lit by state environmental regulators, won’t need new power lines to deliver the electricity that it guzzles. GW Ranch will be walled off from the power grid and generate its own electricity from natural gas and solar plants installed on site.

    GW Ranch is set to become part of a shadow power grid emerging across the country with potentially far-reaching consequences for the U.S. electricity system and environment.

    After the rapid growth of data centers triggered pushback from politicians, utilities, and local residents over the pressures they place on the grid, tech companies are now building their own fleet of private power plants, mostly fueled by natural gas.

    Township should deny data center project proposed for Pennhurst, planning commissioners say

    Dozens of sprawling off-grid data center projects are planned across Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Utah, Ohio, and Tennessee, according to a review of regulatory filings, permits, earnings call transcripts, and other documents by the energy industry research firm Cleanview. Several are already under construction.

    Companies rushing to develop the facilities include Meta, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, business software provider Oracle, and oil giant Chevron. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)

    The off-grid projects already approved by state energy and environmental regulators could power all of New York City several times over, a vast new energy infrastructure that will bring huge new industrial facilities to communities across the country and increase U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. A handful of states have passed laws to encourage off-grid data centers by loosening rules around who can build power plants and where they can be located.

    The projects are sparking alarm from El Paso to Davis, West Virginia, from residents unhappy to learn that gas plants large enough to fuel major cities are set to sprout in places they were never expected.

    “This came out of nowhere,” said Amy Margolies, a resident fighting an off-grid data center planned near Davis, in one of West Virginia’s major tourism corridors. The project was permitted to operate a gas plant large enough to generate roughly equivalent power to that used by every home in the state. It is being propelled by a 2025 state law that eased approvals for off-grid data centers.

    “They removed local control completely for this speculative gold rush,” Margolies said. “Everything is shrouded in secrecy, and the public is removed from the process.”

    The idea of taking data centers off-grid is the latest in a line of provocative strategies adopted by the tech industry in its pursuit of more electricity that also includes reviving old nuclear plants, backing long-shot fusion energy schemes, and planning to plunk down hundreds of compact nuclear power plants in communities across the U.S. But while these approaches are fossil fuel-free, most of the sector’s immediate investments will be in gas power, driving up the planet-warming emissions the companies long promised to take a lead in curbing.

    Billions of dollars are now being invested in power plants for off-grid data centers, even though key engineering challenges have not been solved, according to veteran energy developers.

    Most of the projects rely on natural gas because the variable output of solar and wind is difficult to manage without the grid as backup. But the most efficient gas turbines are back-ordered for years, forcing developers to use more wasteful and polluting equipment.

    “It is catastrophic for climate goals,” said Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview, which has identified 47 behind-the-meter projects nationwide.

    Others warn that off-grid projects could struggle to keep the lights on. Gas plants typically spend a third or more of the year down for maintenance, but data centers generally operate around the clock. “I get that cost is no object for these companies and they just want to get online,” said Jigar Shah, an energy entrepreneur who helped manage federal energy investments for the Biden administration. “But they have not figured out even with unlimited funds how to make these plants run with 24/7 reliability.”

    Shah said the projects could also drive up prices for customers who still use the power grid, as developers outbid utilities for equipment and leave other ratepayers to bear the costs of maintenance for older energy infrastructure. “This whole thing feels like a fairy tale concocted on the back of a napkin,” he said.

    Developers of the projects have said they can use backup generators or gas plants to keep data centers operating without interruption. President Donald Trump and White House officials have argued that loosening regulations that gave utilities a monopoly over power generation will make electricity more abundant and protect ordinary consumers.

    “President Trump’s vision really since the beginning of the administration is … ‘Let the AI companies become power companies. Let them stand up their own power generation as they built side by side with these new data centers,’” said David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, during a podcast interview at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, last month. “We get this infrastructure, [and] residential rates don’t go up.”

    Silicon Valley’s build-out of AI infrastructure is “too onerous for the power grid to take on,” said Kevin Pratt, chief operating officer of Pacifico Energy, the energy developer building GW Ranch in Texas. “We were hearing, ‘We want you to build these projects, but the utility can’t give us the power we need. What can you do?’”

    The off-grid strategy appears to have worked for Elon Musk. In 2024, his company xAI got a Memphis data center up and running in months — instead of the more typical years — in part by largely sidestepping the grid and powering the facility with dozens of portable gas generators.

    Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled the setup illegally breached emissions rules, and required the company to get permits. But tech industry officials say xAI had put rivals on notice that unless companies found work-arounds to lengthy wait times for power grid hookups, they risked being left behind.

    The fallout is now reverberating in places like Tucker County, W.Va. Residents learned through a legal notice in the community newspaper the Parsons Advocate that developer Fundamental Data was seeking to build a massive, off-grid data center with a large gas plant on a ridgeline near Davis.

    The state law promoting such projects strips local officials of their usual authority to vet and approve new developments if these proposals are related to data center campuses using off-grid power. Fundamental Data received a state environmental permit for the gas plant over the loud objections of residents and officials in surrounding communities.

    The company declined to say how many gas turbines it plans to use or what kind they will be. It would not comment on whether the data center would be for AI development, crypto mining, or something else.

    “As designed, it is intended to operate independently and does not rely on ratepayer-funded infrastructure or impact existing residential customers,” Fundamental Data said in a statement.

    The project is one of at least three large off-grid data center developments that builders are pursuing in West Virginia under its 2025 law. One of the others, the Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County, will initially use gas to generate enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes, plans say, and later quadruple its output. That would see the site generate and consume several times the total electricity consumption of West Virginia residents.

    The major tech companies that will tap this shadow grid are mostly keeping their names off the projects while developers go through the messy process of permitting, overcoming community opposition and construction.

    Meta is one exception. Through a subsidiary, it is working with natural gas colossus Williams on a project called Socrates in New Albany, Ohio, that will install a pair of off-grid gas power plants that will each sprawl across 20 acres. Williams says it will be operational this year.

    The social media giant has another off-grid project in El Paso, Texas, where it is working with the local utility to create a large gas generating facility by linking together 813 modest generators. Local officials and activists have protested the plan, alleging that Meta won lucrative city and county incentives after leaving the impression its data center campus would be powered by clean energy.

    Meta’s local partner, El Paso Electric, wrote in regulatory filings first reported on by the Texas Tribune that using solar panels and battery storage “would require thousands of acres adjacent to the Data Center site which are not available.”

    Meta said that the fossil fuel power used in El Paso will be paired with purchases of renewable energy. “As with all of our data centers, including dozens of renewable projects throughout Texas, we work to add energy to the grid and match our data center’s electricity use with 100% clean, and renewable energy,” company spokesman Ryan Daniels said in an email.

    Oracle and OpenAI are also developing off-grid power plants for their data centers. Construction is underway at their Stargate Project Jupiter campus in New Mexico, which will be powered by massive natural gas systems.

    OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman is an investor in aerospace firm Boom Supersonic, which has refashioned a jet engine design to power off-grid data centers. The first batch will go to developer Crusoe, which is building one of the world’s largest data center campuses in Wyoming.

    Despite the immense capital invested and shovels in the ground, the AI industry’s off-grid plans do not compute for some veterans of big energy projects.

    Developers are “trying to rush to market with a bunch of clankety old stuff that was headed to the scrapyard, or with dozens to hundreds of small generating units strung together,” said Aaron Zubaty, CEO of California-based Eolian, which builds large energy installations.

    Those untested designs will inevitably develop maintenance problems that cause cost overruns, malfunctioning equipment and unanticipated outages, Zubaty said. He predicted that spending on the projects may be more likely to pay off by creating pressure on utility companies to accommodate more data centers on the grid.

    “If you are a utility, this can’t be your future,” he said. “You can’t have your biggest customers never need you again.”

  • Mark Zuckerberg quizzed on kids’ Instagram use in social media trial

    Mark Zuckerberg quizzed on kids’ Instagram use in social media trial

    LOS ANGELES — Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people’s use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he’s received about being “authentic” and not “robotic.”

    Zuckerberg’s testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm children.

    As of early afternoon, Zuckerberg has not directly answered the central question of the case: whether Instagram is addictive. The plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, asked if people tend to use something more if it’s addictive.

    “I’m not sure what to say to that,” Zuckerberg said. “I don’t think that applies here.”

    Attorneys representing the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, claim her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.

    Beginning his questioning, Lanier laid out three options of what people can do regarding vulnerable people: help them, ignore them, or “prey upon them and use them for our own ends.” Zuckerberg said he agrees the last option is not what a reasonable company should do, saying, “I think a reasonable company should try to help the people that use its services.”

    When he was asked about his compensation, Zuckerberg said he has pledged to give “almost all” of his money to charity, focusing on scientific research. Lanier asked him how much money he has pledged to victims impacted by social media, to which Zuckerberg replied, “I disagree with the characterization of your question.”

    Lanier questioned the Meta CEO extensively about a comment he made during a past congressional hearing, where he said Instagram employees are not given goals to increase amount of time people spent on the platform.

    Lanier presented internal documents that seemed to contradict that statement. Zuckerberg replied that they previously had goals associated with time, but said he and the company made the conscious decision to move away from those goals, focusing instead on utility. He said he believes in the “basic assumption” that “if something is valuable, people will use it more because it’s useful to them.”

    Lanier also asked Zuckerberg about what he characterized as extensive media training, including for testimonies like the one he was giving in court. Lanier pointed to an internal document about feedback on Zuckerberg’s tone of voice on his own social media, imploring him to come off as “authentic, direct, human, insightful and real,” and instructing him to “not try hard, fake, robotic, corporate or cheesy” in his communication.

    Zuckerberg pushed back against the idea that he’s been coached on how to respond to questions or present himself, saying those offering the advice were “just giving feedback.”

    Regarding his media appearances and public speaking, Zuckerberg said, “I think I’m actually well known to be sort of bad at this.”

    The Meta CEO has long been mocked online for appearing robotic and, when he was younger, nervous when speaking publicly. In 2010, during an interview with renowned tech journalists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, he was sweating so profusely that Swisher asked him if he wanted to “take off the hoodie” that was his uniform at the time.

    Lanier spent a considerable stretch of his limited time with Zuckerberg asking about the company’s age verification policies.

    “I don’t see why this is so complicated,” Zuckerberg said after a lengthy back-and-forth, reiterating that the company’s policy restricts users under the age of 13 and that they work to detect users who have lied about their ages to bypass restrictions.

    Zuckerberg mostly stuck to his talking points, referencing his goal of building a platform that is valuable to users and, on multiple occasions, saying he disagreed with Lanier’s “characterization” of his questions or of Zuckerberg’s own comments.

    Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta’s platforms. During his 2024 congressional testimony, he apologized to families whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were caused by social media. But while he told parents he was “sorry for everything you have all been through,” he stopped short of taking direct responsibility for it. This trial marks the first time Zuckerberg stands before a jury. Once again, bereaved parents are sitting in the courtroom audience.

    The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies are likely to play out.

    A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and said they are “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

    One of Meta’s attorneys, Paul Schmidt, said in his opening statement that the company is not disputing that KGM experienced mental health struggles, but rather disputing that Instagram played a substantial factor in those struggles. He pointed to medical records that showed a turbulent home life, and both he and an attorney representing YouTube argue she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.

    Zuckerberg’s testimony comes a week after that of Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms. Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to protect young people using the service, and said it’s “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being.”

    Much of Mosseri’s questioning from the plaintiff’s lawyer centered on cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance — a topic that Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg. He is also expected to face questions about Instagram’s algorithm, the infinite nature of Meta’s feeds and other features the plaintiffs argue are designed to get users hooked.

    Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began last week.

  • After 20 years of growth, this Philadelphia-born company says it’s ready to help in the caregiver crisis

    After 20 years of growth, this Philadelphia-born company says it’s ready to help in the caregiver crisis

    Just over 20 years ago, when Geoff Gross founded Medical Guardian, his vision was to empower older adults to live more independently.

    The company launched in 2005 out of Gross’ apartment in Center City with a focus on emergency response for seniors and individuals with disabilities.

    “At the time, the industry was largely reactive and built around moments of crisis,” he said.

    It now has 630,000 active members, who can choose from lightweight medical alert devices worn as a necklace or on the wrist. One of them, which looks like any other smartwatch on first glance, allows users to track health and activity stats.

    The company employs more than 600 people and is approaching $250 million in annual revenue. Gross said it is poised to step in as aging-in-place becomes an urgent challenge facing families, healthcare systems, and policymakers.

    By 2034, the number of older adults in the U.S. will surpass the number of minors for the first time in history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Simultaneously, families and caregivers are experiencing increased demands, and traditional care models are proving to be less sustainable. Over 53 million Americans serve as unpaid family caregivers, according to a recent study from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and they provide an estimated $600 billion worth of unpaid labor each year.

    “Caregiving is now widely recognized as a public health, workforce, and economic issue, not just a personal one,” Gross said. “Burnout, anxiety, and sleep deprivation are increasingly common, yet caregivers are still underserved by technology that focuses almost entirely on emergencies instead of daily reassurance and support.”

    From peace of mind to longevity

    Gross founded Medical Guardian based on a “simple but deeply personal belief” that “people deserve to age with confidence, dignity, and the freedom to live life on their own terms,” he said.

    That was informed by his family’s experience with Gross’ grandmother, Freda, a retired nurse who lived alone later in life and experienced frequent falls. “She was fiercely independent, but those moments created real anxiety for our family,” he said.

    She became Medical Guardian’s first member.

    The MGMini Lite by Medical Guardian.

    “People who are older, frail, or have a disability or chronic illness” need to be able to easily, reliably contact family or emergency services, said Richard C. Wender, who chairs the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school.

    He recommends choosing a system that’s affordable and delivers on promises made. These services can offer more independent options for vulnerable individuals.

    “Most people want the same things as they get older, as they did before: control over their daily lives, privacy, and the ability to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible,” Gross said. “When done thoughtfully, connected health and safety tools can remove barriers rather than impose them.”

    People often find Medical Guardian through referrals from adult children, caregivers, clinicians, and community organizations, Gross said. He noted that such decisions are “often made collaboratively, and our approach is designed to reflect that reality.”

    The company also does direct-to-consumer marketing, as well as social media advertising and influencer outreach. And it works closely with health plans, providers, senior living operators, and state programs focused on helping aging adults remain safely at home.

    “That blend of consumer and healthcare channels mirrors how aging and caregiving actually happen, in real homes, with real families, over time,” Gross said.

    Gross says Medical Guardian members have shared feedback that their devices’ biggest impact is not a dramatic moment, but the everyday reassurance.

    Medical Guardian’s MGMini device, which is worn around the neck.

    “Feeling steady taking a shower, walking outside without hesitation, or knowing help is there if something feels off,” Gross said. “Those small moments of confidence shape how people experience independence.”

    With that in mind, one of the company’s goals is to support people earlier — before a fall, a health scare, or a rushed decision.

    “Our services often come years before in-home care or assisted living, which gives us the opportunity to build trust while people are still living independently and confidently,” he said.

    Medical Guardian also has wellness advocates, many of whom have social work backgrounds, as well as emergency response specialists and care teams.

    “Our platforms use data, automation, and intelligence to notice patterns and surface insights, but when something matters, a real person is always involved,” Gross said.

    Philly-based medical device competes with Big Tech watches

    Many of the people answering Medical Guardian’s emergency calls, building its software, supporting members, and working with health plans are doing so from Philadelphia, where the company is headquartered. More than half its employees are based in the area.

    Geoff Gross, CEO of Medical Guardian, in the Technology Product Innovation Lab at the company’s Center City Philadelphia office.

    “We’ve built and scaled this company in Philly, and that matters to us,” Gross said. “There’s a strong work ethic here, a deep healthcare ecosystem, and a sense of community responsibility that aligns with our mission.”

    Some of Medical Guardian’s partners are based in the region — such as AmeriHealth Caritas, Independence Blue Cross, and Jefferson Health.

    Some may feel that an Apple Watch can do as much as one of Medical Guardian’s devices by providing vital stats, location tracking, and communication capabilities. But Gross said Medical Guardian’s products offer a unique alternative.

    “Many of our members do not want dozens of apps or daily charging. They want something reliable, intuitive, and built for real life, especially in moments when clarity and speed matter,” he said.

    Gross cited that Medical Guardian can monitor location and, when appropriate, biometrics like oxygen levels or blood pressure. That’s not meant to overwhelm people with data but to create meaningful context for families and care teams.

    “For many older adults,” he said, “that focus on usefulness over features is more appealing than a general-purpose smartwatch that tries to do everything.”

  • Instagram chief says he does not believe people can get clinically addicted to social media

    Instagram chief says he does not believe people can get clinically addicted to social media

    LOS ANGELES — Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram, testified Wednesday during a landmark social media trial in Los Angeles that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms.

    The question of addiction is a key pillar of the case, where plaintiffs seek to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.

    At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 20-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose lawsuit could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury.

    Mosseri said it’s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he called problematic use. The plaintiff’s lawyer, however, presented quotes directly from Mosseri in a podcast interview a few years ago where he said the opposite, but he clarified that he was probably using the term “too casually,” as people tend to do.

    Mosseri said he was not claiming to be a medical expert when questioned about his qualifications to comment on the legitimacy of social media addiction, but said someone “very close” to him has experienced serious clinical addiction, which is why he said he was “being careful with my words.”

    He said he and his colleagues use the term “problematic use” to refer to “someone spending more time on Instagram than they feel good about, and that definitely happens.”

    It’s “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s wellbeing,” Mosseri said.

    Mosseri and the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth about cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance in a way that seemed to promote plastic surgery.

    “We are trying to be as safe as possible but also censor as little as possible,” Mosseri said.

    In the courtroom, bereaved parents of children who have had social media struggles seemed visibly upset during a discussion around body dysmorphia and cosmetic filters. Meta shut down all third-party augmented reality filters in January 2025. The judge made an announcement to members of the public on Wednesday after the displays of emotion, reminding them not to make any indication of agreement or disagreement with testimony, saying that it would be “improper to indicate some position.”

    In recent years, Instagram has added a slew of features and tools it says have made the platform safer for young people. But this does not always work. A report last year, for instance, found that teen accounts researchers created were recommended age-inappropriate sexual content, including “graphic sexual descriptions, the use of cartoons to describe demeaning sexual acts, and brief displays of nudity.”

    In addition, Instagram also recommended a “range of self-harm, self-injury, and body image content” on teen accounts that the report says “would be reasonably likely to result in adverse impacts for young people, including teenagers experiencing poor mental health, or self-harm and suicidal ideation and behaviors.” Meta called the report “misleading, dangerously speculative” and said it misrepresents its efforts on teen safety.

    Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began this week.

  • Robert E. Booth Jr., pioneering knee surgeon and celebrated antiquarian, has died at 80

    Robert E. Booth Jr., pioneering knee surgeon and celebrated antiquarian, has died at 80

    Robert E. Booth Jr., 80, of Gladwyne, renowned pioneering knee surgeon, former head of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Pennsylvania Hospital, celebrated antiquarian, professor, researcher, writer, lecturer, athlete, mentor, and volunteer, died Thursday, Jan. 15, of complications from cancer at his home.

    Born in Philadelphia and reared in Haddonfield, Dr. Booth was a top honors student at Haddonfield Memorial High School, Princeton University, and what is now the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was good at seeing things differently and went on to design new artificial knee joint implants and improved surgical instruments, serve as chief of orthopedics at Pennsylvania Hospital, and mentor celebrated surgical staffs at Jefferson Health, Aria Health, and Penn Medicine.

    He joined with two other prominent doctors to cofound the 3B orthopedic private practice in the late 1990s and, over 50 years until recently, performed more than 50,000 knee replacements, more than anyone, according to several sources. Last March 26, he did five knee replacements on his 80th birthday.

    In a tribute, fellow physician Alex Vaccaro, president of Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, said: “He restored mobility to thousands, pairing unmatched technical mastery with a compassion that patients never forgot.”

    In a 1989 story about his career, Dr. Booth told The Inquirer: “It’s so much fun and so gratifying and so rewarding to see what it means to these people. You don’t see that in the operating room. You see that in the follow-ups. That’s the fun of being a surgeon.”

    Friends called him “a legend in his profession” and “a friend to everyone” in online tributes. He was known to check in with patients the night before every surgery, and a colleague said online: “Patients were all shocked by his compassion.”

    Dr. Booth was also praised for his organization and collaboration in the operating room. “His OR was a clinic in team work and efficiency,” a former colleague said on LinkedIn.

    He told Medical Economics magazine in 2015: “I love fixing things. I like the mechanics and the positivity of something assembled and fixed.”

    This article about Dr. Booth’s practice was published in The Inquirer in 2015.

    His procedural innovations reduced infection rates and increased success rates. They were scrutinized in case studies by Harvard University and others, and replicated by colleagues around the world. Some of the instruments he redesigned, such as the Booth retractor, bear his name.

    He was president of the Illinois-based Knee Society in the early 2000s and earned its 2026 lifetime achievement award. In an Instagram post, colleagues there called him “one of the most influential leaders in the history of knee arthroplasty.”

    Dr. Booth replaced both knees at once on a 52-year old in 2015.

    He was a professor of orthopedics at Penn’s school of medicine, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and the old Allegheny University of Health Sciences. He loved language and studied poetry on a scholarship in England after Princeton and before medical school at Penn. He told his family that his greatest professional satisfaction was using both his “manual and linguistic skills.”

    He was onetime president of the International Spine Study Group and volunteered with the nonprofit Operation Walk Denver to provide free surgical care for severe arthritis patients in Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. Colleagues at Operation Walk Denver noted his “remarkable spirit, profound expertise, and unwavering commitment” in a Facebook tribute.

    This story about Dr. Booth’s charitable work abroad appeared in The Inquirer in 2020.

    At home, Dr. Booth and his wife, Kathy, amassed an extensive collection of Shaker and Pennsylvania German folk art. They curated five notable exhibitions at the Philadelphia Antiques Show and were recognized as exceptional collectors in 2011 by the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks.

    He lectured widely about art and antiques, and wrote articles for Magazine Antiques and other publications. He was president of the American Folk Art Society and active at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire.

    “He was larger than life for sure,” said his daughter, Courtney.

    Robert Emrey Booth Jr. was born March 26, 1945, in Philadelphia. He was the salutatorian of his senior class and ran track and field at Haddonfield High School.

    Dr. Booth enjoyed time with his family.

    He earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Princeton in 1967, won a letter on the swimming and diving team, and played on the school’s Ivy League championship lacrosse team as a senior. He wrote his senior thesis about poet William Butler Yeats and returned to Philadelphia from England at the suggestion of his father, a prominent radiologist, to become a doctor. He graduated from Penn’s medical school in 1972.

    “I always liked the intellectual side of medicine,” he told Medical Economics. “And once I got to see the clinical side, I was pretty well hooked.”

    3B Orthopedics moves to Aria Health from Pennsylvania Hospital

    He met Kathy Plummer at a wedding, and they married in 1972 and had a daughter, Courtney, and sons Robert and Thomas. They lived in Society Hill, Haddonfield, and Gladwyne.

    Dr. Booth liked to ski and play golf. He was an avid reader and enjoyed time with his family on Lake Kezar in Lovell, Maine.

    “He was quite the person, quite the partner, and quite the husband,” his wife said, “and I’m so proud of what we built together.”

    Dr. Booth and his wife, Kathy, married in 1972.

    In addition to his wife and children, Dr. Booth is survived by six grandchildren and other relatives.

    A private celebration of his life is to be held later.

    Donations in his name may be made to Operation Walk Denver, 950 E. Harvard Ave., Suite 230, Denver, Colo. 80210.

  • Under growing pressure, the biggest social networks agree to be rated on teen safety

    Under growing pressure, the biggest social networks agree to be rated on teen safety

    Three leading social media companies have agreed to undergo independent assessments of how effectively they protect the mental health of teenage users, submitting to a battery of tests announced Tuesday by a coalition of advocacy organizations.

    The platforms will be graded on whether they mandate breaks and provide options to turn off endless scrolling, among a host of other measures of their safety policies and transparency commitments. Companies that reviewers rate highly will receive a blue shield badge, while those that fair poorly will be branded as not able to block harmful content. Meta — which operates Facebook and Instagram — TikTok and Snap are first three companies to sign up for the process.

    “I hope that by having this new set of standards and ratings it does improve teens’ mental health,” said Dan Reidenberg, managing director of the National Council for Suicide Prevention, who oversaw the development of the standards. “At the same time, I also really hope that it changes the technology companies: that it really helps shape how they design and they build and they implement their tools.”

    Teenagers represent a coveted demographic for social media sites and the new standards come as the tech industry faces increasing pressure to better protect young users.

    A wave of lawsuits alleges that leading firms have engineered their platforms to be addictive. Congress is weighing a suite of bills designed to protect children’s safety online. And state lawmakers have sought to impose age limits on social apps.

    But those efforts have borne little fruit. Some legal experts argue teens and their families may face difficulty in court cases proving the connection between social media use and their struggles. Officials in Washington, meanwhile, have been unable to agree on how to regulate the industry and laws passed by the states have run into First Amendment challenges.

    The voluntary standards represent an alternative approach. Reidenberg said in an interview that the ratings are not a substitute for legislation but will be a helpful way for teenagers and parents to decide how to engage with particular apps. The project is backed by the Mental Health Coalition, an advocacy group founded by fashion designer Kenneth Cole.

    Cole said in a statement that the standards “recognize that technology and social media now play a central role in mental health — especially for young people — and they offer a clear path toward digital spaces that better support well-being.”

    There is still no scientific consensus on whether social media is on the whole harmful for children and teenagers. While some research has found that the heaviest users have worse mental health, studies have also found that young people who are not online can also struggle. But teenagers themselves have reported becoming more uneasy about the time they spend online, with girls in particular telling pollsters at the Pew Research Center in 2024 that apps were affecting their self-confidence, sleep patterns, and overall mental health.

    Reidenberg said it’s clear that in some cases young people’s time online becomes problematic. He said the system was developed without funding from the tech industry, but companies will have to volunteer to participate.

    Antigone Davis, Meta’s global head of safety, said the standards will “provide the public with a meaningful way to evaluate platform protections and hold companies accountable.” TikTok’s American arm said it looked forward to the ratings process. Snap called the Mental Health Coalition’s work “truly impactful.”

    Organizers compared the process to how Hollywood assigns age ratings to movies or the government assesses the safety of new cars. Companies will submit internal polices and designs for review by outside experts who will develop their ratings. In all, the companies’ performance will be measured in about two dozen areas covering their policies, app design, internal oversight, user education, and content.

    Many of the standards specifically target users’ exposure to content about suicide and self harm. But one also targets the sheer length of time that some people spend scrolling, crediting platforms for offering either voluntary or mandatory “take-a-break” features.

    The standards are being launched at an event in Washington on Tuesday. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D., Va.) said in a statement that he welcomed the standards but they weren’t a substitute for regulatory action.

    “Congress has a responsibility to put lasting, enforceable guardrails in place so that every platform is held accountable to the young people and families who use them,” he added.

  • Gov. Josh Shapiro says he’ll prevent data center developers from ‘saddling’ Pennsylvanians with higher energy costs

    Gov. Josh Shapiro says he’ll prevent data center developers from ‘saddling’ Pennsylvanians with higher energy costs

    Gov. Josh Shapiro had a message for data center developers on Tuesday: Come to Pennsylvania, but bring your own energy — or pay up.

    During his budget address, Shapiro said his proposal — the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) standards — will ensure center operators are “not saddling homeowners with added costs because of their development.”

    Data centers, which house the technology to power cloud storage and other computing, have been proliferating across the country and the region due to the increasing demands of generative artificial intelligence, or AI. State and local officials are trying to keep up with the rapid pace of development, proposing new legislation — and updating existing measures — in an attempt to regulate the facilities.

    Shapiro’s plan would require data centers to supply their own energy or pay for any new generation they need. It also calls on them to hire and train Pennsylvania workers and comply with “the highest standards of environmental protection,” including in water conservation, Shapiro said.

    In exchange, the governor added, data center developers will get “speed and certainty” in the permitting process, as well as applicable tax credits.

    The comments from Shapiro, a Democrat who has consistently encouraged data center development, come amid a flurry of legislative and executive action, as elected officials promise to keep Pennsylvania and New Jersey consumers from bearing the costs of these power-hungry facilities.

    Data centers, the electric grid, and governors’ proposals

    Locally, proposals for large AI data centers have faced opposition from East Vincent Township, Chester County to Vineland, Cumberland County.

    A half-built data center in Vineland is expected to be completed later this year, with a capacity of 300 megawatts.

    Many experts have attempted to quantify the impact of these centers on Americans’ energy bills. In one analysis, Bloomberg News found that the monthly electric bills of customers who lived near significant data center activity had increased 267% in the past five years.

    At the same time, some governors, including Shapiro, have criticized and sued PJM, the Montgomery County-based electric grid operator, over its annual capacity auction, which influences how much customers pay.

    On Tuesday, Shapiro reiterated calls for PJM to speed up new power-generation projects and extend a price cap.

    What does Montco’s PJM have to do with data centers and why is Gov. Shapiro always so mad at it?

    Separate from GRID, Shapiro also said electric companies, including Peco, should increase transparency around pricing and “rein in costs” for consumers, including low-income and vulnerable Pennsylvanians.

    “These steps will save consumers money immediately,” Shapiro said. He announced an energy-affordability watchdog to monitor utility-rate requests and take legal action if necessary to prevent companies from “jacking up their rates and costing you more.”

    In New Jersey, new Gov. Mikie Sherrill made energy affordability a central tenet of her campaign. At her inauguration last month, she declared “a state of emergency on utility costs,” following through on a promise she had made in stump speeches and TV ads.

    Through several executive orders, she froze utility rates and expanded programs to spur new power generation in the state. She also ordered electric utilities to report energy requests from data centers.

    “This is just the beginning,” Sherrill said in her inaugural remarks. “We are going to take on the affordability crisis, and we are going to shake up the status quo.”

    In Pennsylvania, ‘Data Center Consumer Protection Bill’ advances

    An Amazon data center is shown last year while under construction in front of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa.

    Meanwhile in Harrisburg and Trenton, some lawmakers have other ideas about how to keep residents from subsidizing data centers.

    As of Tuesday, nearly 30 bills in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey legislatures mentioned data centers, according to online records. Many of those bills aren’t directly related to residents’ electric bills, and instead address the facilities’ energy sources, water usage, environmental impacts, and general regulation.

    Others attempt to tackle rising consumer costs.

    On Monday, the Pennsylvania House Energy Committee advanced a measure referred to as the “Data Center Consumer Protection Bill.” Lawmakers say it would keep residents’ bills down by creating a regulatory framework for data centers and requiring their operators to contribute to utility assistance funds for low-income Pennsylvanians.

    “Today’s vote brings us one step closer to protecting ratepayers,” Robert Matzie, the Beaver County Democrat who introduced the bill, said in a statement. “Data centers can bring jobs and expand the local tax base, but if unchecked, they can drive up utility costs. Electric bills are already too high.”

    The state House Energy Committee also heard testimony Monday on a bill that would allow the state to create a “model ordinance” for local municipalities to regulate data centers, and another that would require centers to report their annual energy and water usage.

    The bills were introduced by State Reps. Kyle Donahue and Kyle Mullins, both Democrats from the Scranton area, which has become a hot spot for data center development.

    Human reporters explain why AI data centers are so controversial in the Philly suburbs and beyond

    “There is a real concern and a sense of overwhelm among the people we represent,” Mullins said at the hearing. “The people of Pennsylvania have serious concerns about data center energy usage and water usage, especially as they see utility bills continue to rise rapidly.”

    Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Data Center Coalition, said he worried the bills would discourage operators from building in Pennsylvania. He said they are already incentivized to reduce energy costs, which are estimated to make up anywhere from 40% to 80% of a data center’s total operating costs.

    “Data center companies strive to maximize energy efficiency to keep their costs low,” Diorio said.

    Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, the Philadelphia Democrat who chairs the energy committee, closed Monday’s hearing by reminding members of one of its main objectives: to “keep down the energy bills that are skyrocketing for people back home.”

    A South Jersey lawmaker says his bill could help consumers

    A Philadelphia-area woman woman turns down her thermostat in attempt to save on electricity in this January 2023 file photo.

    The pain of skyrocketing utility bills has been felt acutely in New Jersey, which unlike Pennsylvania uses more energy than it produces.

    Between 2024 and 2025, New Jersey residents’ electric bills rose more than 13% on average, the fifth steepest increase in the U.S., according to federal data analyzed by the business magazine Kiplinger. Pennsylvanians saw a nearly 10% increase during the same period, according to the data.

    Their electric bills hit record highs this summer, from the Main Line to the Jersey Shore

    Prices are expected to keep rising in the coming years as more data centers are constructed.

    A bill sponsored by New Jersey State Assembly member David Bailey Jr., a Democrat from Salem County, attempts to prevent future price hikes.

    The legislation would require data center developers to have “skin in the game,” as Bailey described it in a recent interview, and sign a contract to purchase at least 85% of the electric service they request for 10 years. He said it would also provide incentives for data centers to supply their own energy generation.

    A massive and controversial AI data center is under construction in South Jersey

    “I don’t want to come off as an anti-data center person,” said Bailey, who represents parts of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties. “This is a very positive thing. We’re just saying we don’t want these big companies to come in and pass this [cost] on to our mom and pops, our neighbors, and our everyday ratepayers.”

    Bailey said he was disappointed that his bill was pocket-vetoed by former Gov. Phil Murphy last month. Now, it has to restart the legislative process. But Bailey said he expects it to eventually pass with bipartisan support.

    “No matter your party affiliation you understand the affordability issue,” Bailey said. “You understand your electric bill” — and how much it has risen recently.

  • What does Montco’s PJM have to do with data centers and why is Gov. Shapiro always so mad at it?

    What does Montco’s PJM have to do with data centers and why is Gov. Shapiro always so mad at it?

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spotlighted energy affordability and the rapid expansion of data centers during his annual budget address Tuesday, singling out PJM to speed up new electrical connections for the centers.

    PJM Interconnection — the region’s dominant electric grid operator — is poised to play a central role in the expansion of data centers, as the independent organization has been shoved into the national spotlight and subjected to mounting pressure over the last year.

    It has been a frequent target of Shapiro, officials from other states, consumer advocates, and the federal government.

    In many ways, PJM may be one of the most consequential Philly‑area institutions that most residents have barely heard of, even though their electricity supply and monthly bills hinge on its decisions.

    The organization has faced escalating scrutiny nationwide and across the region because of its position as the country’s largest independent grid operator and the challenges tied to surging energy demand.

    What is PJM?

    Based in Audubon, Montgomery County, PJM manages the minute-by-minute flow of electricity for 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia.

    It helps keep the lights on for 13 million Pennsylvanians.

    Why are there concerns about PJM and data centers?

    Concerns have risen over the cost to consumers posed by hyperscale data centers — the massive server farms needed to run artificial intelligence — that are poised to come online across Pennsylvania and the U.S.

    PJM plays a major role in getting those data centers powered and connected to the regional electrical grid.

    Consumer advocates say the data centers are forcing consumers to pay for the new power plants and equipment needed to keep up with that demand. And they fear that huge demand could result in electrical outages during times of peak demand.

    Already, consumers have seen electricity prices spike — and that’s before most of the proposed data centers are even built.

    How much consumers pay is influenced by an annual auction held by PJM designed to get enough commitments from power producers so that the electrical grid can meet forecast demand for several years and to ensure power during peak times. That is known as grid reliability.

    Map produced by The National Resources Defense Council estimates electricity capacity costs to utility companies based on PJM forecasts through 2032.

    Why is Gov. Shapiro critical of PJM?

    Shapiro and other governors have been sharply critical of how PJM has designed its auction, saying the process lacks transparency.

    In a 2024 lawsuit, Shapiro’s office referred to PJM’s decisions as “inept” and responsible for “the country’s most snarled interconnection queue,” in reference to projects lined up for approval to be added to the grid.

    After the 2025-26 auction, Shapiro reached an agreement with PJM on a price cap that he said would save consumers over $21 billion and avoid historic price hikes. The cap limited the increase of wholesale electricity payments to power plant owners.

    PJM held another auction in December for 2027-28, in which it failed to procure enough supply to meet forecast demand next year.

    PJM forecasts that data centers will drive a need for more than 30 gigawatts of peak electricity capacity by 2030 — enough to power more than 20 million households, or approximately all the homes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Maryland, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

    The NRDC says that could lead to another spike in electricity costs through 2033 and cost homeowners and businesses an estimated extra $70 per month.

    As a result, Shapiro and federal officials have urged PJM to extend the current price cap another two years.

    Why is there a push for more data centers?

    At the same time, however, officials are also pushing PJM to fast-track data centers.

    Late last year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order on so-called colocation that will allow tech companies to plug their data centers directly into power plants.

    In January, the Trump administration and a group of governors, including Shapiro, urged PJM to move quickly to boost power supplies and keep bills from rising.

    They also want PJM to hold a separate power auction in which tech companies would bid on 15-year contracts to build new power plants. That way, data center operators, not regular consumers, would pay for the power.

    Data centers that do not have their own power source and do not volunteer to be cut off from the grid during power emergencies should be billed for the cost of new power plants, they said.

    Why do people resist data centers near their homes?

    The quick rise of data centers has met stiff resistance from residents who fear the projects will radically alter the character of rural neighborhoods, increase electricity and water costs, and harm the environment.

    Developers have submitted applications for at least 20 hyperscale data centers in Pennsylvania. PJM would have to find a way to make sure they can be powered and connected reliably to the grid, or provide their own power.

    At least six data centers are being planned or proposed in the Philadelphia region, with some reaching 2 million square feet. Residents have fought the proposals, some of which have run into zoning and planning problems.

    Data centers are proposed in Falls Township, Bucks County; East Vincent and East Whiteland in Chester County; Limerick in Montgomery County; and Vineland, N.J. A proposal for a data center in Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County, has been withdrawn, but another proposal could be submitted at any time.

    Residents of some of those communities are alarmed by a new Pennsylvania House bill (HB 2151), which is backed by Shapiro. It provides a model ordinance designed to speed data center development.

    Opponents believe the bill is an attempt by the tech industry to get data centers approved.

    “HB2151 would undermine Pennsylvanians’ herculean grassroots efforts to keep dirty data centers out of our communities — it must be stopped,” said Ginny Marcille-Kerslake, an organizer for Food and Water Watch, an environmental advocacy nonprofit.

    “This bill pushes Shapiro’s reckless embrace of data centers even further onto communities struggling to grapple with Big Tech’s land, power, and water grab,” she said, calling it a part of “backroom deals” the state is making.

    A vote on the bill before the House Energy Committee is scheduled for Wednesday.

    What’s next?

    Environmentalists and other groups, including some legislators, say a process by PJM to fast-track electricity-producing projects excludes clean energy and gives special treatment to fossil fuel power plants, allowing them to cut ahead in the queue over renewable sources that have waited years to connect to the grid.

    Meanwhile, PJM recently released its much-anticipated plan for how to deal with the demand created by data centers.

    That plan calls for changes in PJM policies to bring new power online quickly by providing a streamlined path for state-sponsored power generation projects, improving load forecasts, giving a bigger role in the process to states, and offering ways for data centers to bring in their own power generation while curtailing power in times of system need.

    The plan, PJM said, “will also help address the supply-and-demand imbalance that has the potential to threaten grid reliability and is currently driving up wholesale costs that can impact consumer bills.”

    Jeff Shields, a spokesperson for PJM, said the imbalance has been created as sources of power generation are being retired without enough new generation coming online to keep pace. At the same time, demand for electricity has increased substantially due to the proliferation of data centers.

    “PJM is doing its part to bring new generation onto the system, and any suggestion otherwise is just not true,” Shields said.

    He also noted that while PJM does run wholesale power markets, it does not directly set rates for residential, commercial, or industrial customers. Those rates are set by utilities, such as Peco, along with government agencies, such as the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

  • Musk joins his rocket, AI businesses into a single company before an expected IPO this year

    Musk joins his rocket, AI businesses into a single company before an expected IPO this year

    NEW YORK — Elon Musk is joining his space exploration and artificial intelligence ventures into a single company before a massive planned initial public offering for the business later this year.

    His rocket venture, SpaceX, announced on Monday that it had bought xAI in an effort to help the world’s richest man dominate the rocket and artificial intelligence businesses. The deal will combine several of his offerings, including his AI chatbot Grok, his satellite communications company Starlink, and his social media company X.

    Musk has talked repeatedly about the need to speed development of technology that will allow data centers to operate in space to solve the problem of overcoming the huge costs in electricity and other resources in building and running AI systems on Earth.

    It’s a goal that Musk said in his announcement of the deal could become much easier to reach with a combined company.

    “In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk wrote on SpaceX’s website Monday, then added in reference to solar power, “It’s always sunny in space!”

    Musk said in SpaceX’s announcement he estimates “that within 2 to 3 years, the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space.”

    It’s not a prediction shared by other many companies building data centers, including Microsoft.

    “I’ll be surprised if people move from land to low-Earth-orbit,” Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, told The Associated Press last month, when asked about the alternatives to building data centers in the U.S. amid rising community opposition.

    SpaceX won’t be the first to explore the idea of putting AI data centers in space. Google last year revealed a new research project called Project Suncatcher that would equip solar-powered satellites with AI computer chips.

    Mississippi officials last month announced that xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center near the state’s border with Tennessee.

    The data center, called MACROHARDRR, a likely pun on Microsoft’s name, will be its third data center in the greater Memphis area.