Unrestricted AI use could add 1bn tons of planet-heating emissions in the US over the next decade, researchers say

US Republicans are pushing to pass a major spending bill that includes provisions to prevent states from enacting regulations on artificial intelligence. Such untamed growth in AI will take a heavy toll upon the world’s dangerously overheating climate, experts have warned.

About 1bn tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide are set to be emitted in the US just from AI over the next decade if no restraints are placed on the industry’s enormous electricity consumption, according to estimates by researchers at Harvard University and provided to the Guardian.

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This imaginative sci-fi survival game is a work of art. But looking after the needy clones of myself I’d made to help run a space base, I was reminded all too clearly of my limitations and failings

Other than during that golden period when they were old enough to play games and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer but hadn’t yet become evil teenagers, I don’t think I’m very good at parenting. When my kids were babies I felt unnecessary and useless, a feeling I have been reminded of most days since. That’s OK. We can’t be good at everything. I can read words backwards and upside down but I can never find my house keys. I am brilliant at dancing to the Cure’s The Lovecats on Dancing Stage MegaMix but terrible at DIY.

Don’t get me wrong: I love my children. I like hanging out with them socially as young adults because they are smart, funny and entertaining, but then they remember I am their dad, and everything is ruined as they ask me to do stuff then blame me for everything wrong in their lives.

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"Nature is handing us an incredibly rare experiment."

The Columbia University Fertility Center used AI to find viable sperm in an infertile man, offering new hope of biological parenthood for those experiencing severe male infertility.

He’s spent 24 hours immersed in slime, two days buried alive – and showered vast amounts of cash on lucky participants. But are MrBeast’s videos simply very savvy clickbait – or acts of avant garde genius?

Written and read by Mark O’Connell

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A revelatory cultural history of our relationship with native wildlife, from newts doing handstands to Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

When newts go a-wooing, sometime in the spring, their signature move is the handstand. Girl newts cluster round to watch, while the boy newts flip on to their creepily human hands and shake their tails in the air. The waggiest newt is the winner, although the actual act of love is a strictly no-contact sport. The male deposits a packet of sperm on an underwater leaf for the female to collect and insert into her own reproductive tract. The whole business is best thought of, says Karen R Jones, as a “sexually charged game of pass-the-parcel”.

This kind of anthropomorphising often strikes naturalists as unscientific or even downright distasteful. But Jones is an environmental historian and her methodology allows, indeed impels, her to start from the principle that Britain’s human and animal populations are culturally entwined. Consequently, we cannot “see” a fox, hedgehog or newt without bringing to it a rich stew of presumptions and fantasy, drawn from childhood picturebooks, out-of-date encyclopedias and, in my case, the 1970s TV classic Tales of the Riverbank, in which small critters say funny things in the West Country burr of .

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Amendment to law will strengthen protection against digital imitations of people’s identities, government says

The Danish government is to clamp down on the creation and dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes by changing copyright law to ensure that everybody has the right to their own body, facial features and voice.

The Danish government said on Thursday it would strengthen protection against digital imitations of people’s identities with what it believes to be the first law of its kind in Europe.

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Regulator acknowledges that won’t stop video nasties, but welcomes extra ‘friction’

The winter crop growing season requires three days of steady rain – but many inland parts of southern Australia did not receive an autumn break this year

How often do you mow your lawn in winter? It may seem like an odd way to start a conversation about drought, but the answer helps explain why our current drought has not broken, despite recent rain – and why spring lamb may be more expensive this year.

Southern Australia has been short of rain for 16 months. Western Victoria, the agricultural regions of South Australia (including Adelaide) and even parts of western Tasmania are suffering record dry conditions. Those rainfall measurements began in 1900 – 126 years ago.

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In a previous blog post, we covered how Airtel’s (a leading telecommunications provider) managed security services (MSS), powered by Elastic Security, provide real-time threat detection, advanced analytics, and cloud security for enterprise customers. By using SIEM, endpoint protection, cloud security, and threat intelligence, Airtel enhances proactive threat hunting and incident response. 

In this blog, we will explore AI-driven features of Elastic Security like AI Assistant, Attack Discovery, and onboarding of custom data with Automatic Import.

Elastic AI Assistant for Security: Elastic AI Assistant for Security enhances analyst efficiency by providing intelligent recommendations, automated threat hunting queries, and contextual insights. This reduces manual effort, accelerates triage, and empowers MSSPs to respond to incidents with greater precision.

Automatic Import: Automatic Import automates the development of custom data integrations with generative AI, cutting the effort needed to create and validate custom integrations from up to several days to less than 10 minutes and significantly lowering the learning curve for onboarding data.

GenAI-powered security features: Elastic Security’s GenAI features improve anomaly detection, behavioral analytics, and predictive threat modeling. With machine learning-driven insights, MSSPs can proactively mitigate risks before they result in full-scale attacks.

These capabilities enhance operational efficiency, reduce alert fatigue through automated prioritization, and ensure scalable, cost-effective security operations.

The above features offer significant benefits to Airtel MSS by enhancing their ability to deliver comprehensive security solutions to their customers, like:

1. Enhanced threat detection and response: Elastic's Attack Discovery uses AI-driven insights to identify and respond to threats more effectively. This capability allows Airtel to detect anomalies and potential security incidents quickly, reducing the mean time to detect (MTTD) and respond (MTTR) to threats.

2. Search AI powered insights: Elastic AI Assistant for Security provides Airtel with advanced capabilities to generate queries and visualizations, reducing the learning curve for security investigations. This tool helps analysts interactively explore problems and execute remedies using generative AI, which accelerates incident management and root cause analysis.

3. Scalability and flexibility: Elastic's Search AI Platform is designed to handle large volumes of data, making it suitable for Airtel managing multiple clients with varying data needs. The platform's ability to ingest and analyze data from any source ensures that Airtel can provide tailored security solutions to its clients.

4. Cost-efficiency: By consolidating multiple security tools into a single platform, Elastic helps MSSPs reduce operational costs. The unified data store eliminates the need for data rehydration, enabling long-term historical analysis and reducing storage costs.

5. Improved collaboration and productivity: Elastic's solutions facilitate better collaboration between technical and business teams by providing a single pane of glass for security operations. This integration reduces manual troubleshooting processes and enhances productivity by automating routine tasks.

6. Future-proofed security operations: With features like cross-cluster search and AI-driven anomaly detection, Elastic ensures that Airtel can adapt to evolving security challenges and regulatory requirements. The platform's open and extensible architecture supports seamless integration with existing technology ecosystems.

7. Upskilling and empowerment: AI Assistant for Security helps upskill junior analysts by guiding them through detection, analysis, and remediation processes. This capability not only enhances resource efficiency but also contributes to the sustainable development of talent within Airtel organizations.

Elastic AI Assistant for Security and Attack Discovery are transforming how Airtel Secure SOC operates by drastically reducing alert fatigue and investigation timelines. Through contextual threat summarization and natural language interaction, analysts can triage and resolve alerts significantly faster.

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• Business growth enabled: 50% faster onboarding of new customers using AI-powered detection rules and prebuilt integration templates

• Cost optimization: 25% lower operational cost per customer cluster due to Elastic’s horizontal scaling, pay-per-ingest pricing, and unified agent model

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Airtel MSS uses over 100 Elastic-built integrations to expand the range of data sources of its customers. Airtel’s MSSP platform spans 30+ Elastic customer deployments, powering ingestion from diverse endpoints, firewalls, cloud services, and business systems.

• Airtel manages multiple customer environments, ensuring data isolation and compliance.

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• Elastic’s cloud-native architecture scales dynamically, handling high-volume data ingestion without performance bottlenecks.

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• Onboarding automation engine: One-click deployment and agent assignment

• Role-based access control (RBAC) for per-customer data and dashboard segregation

The release and timing of any features or functionality described in this post remain at Elastic's sole discretion. Any features or functionality not currently available may not be delivered on time or at all.

In this blog post, we may have used or referred to third party generative AI tools, which are owned and operated by their respective owners. Elastic does not have any control over the third party tools and we have no responsibility or liability for their content, operation or use, nor for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such tools. Please exercise caution when using AI tools with personal, sensitive or confidential information. Any data you submit may be used for AI training or other purposes. There is no guarantee that information you provide will be kept secure or confidential. You should familiarize yourself with the privacy practices and terms of use of any generative AI tools prior to use. 

Elastic, Elasticsearch, and associated marks are trademarks, logos or registered trademarks of Elasticsearch N.V. in the United States and other countries. All other company and product names are trademarks, logos or registered trademarks of their respective owners.