Rich McGuinness

Proud to announce Amazon Web Services (AWS)'s partnership with the UK AI Security Institute Alignment Project focused on AI behaviour and control. We're committing £5 million in cloud computing credits to empower researchers working on one of tech's most critical challenges - ensuring AI systems behave predictably and align with human values. By joining forces with global partners including the Canadian AI Safety Institute, Anthropic, and leading academic institutions, we're helping build the infrastructure needed for safe and responsible AI development.

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WOW! What a week. It has truly underscored how the UK is fast becoming a cornerstone for global AI. I've said many times it's such an exciting time to be alive, but now even more so as a proud Brit! NVIDIA’s investment commitment, announced this evening in London by Jensen Huang, and the collaboration with key partners, highlight what’s possible when public and private forces align. With  £2 billion being invested in the U.K. market to catalyse the nation’s AI startup ecosystem and scale the next generation of globally transformative AI businesses, we’re equipping the UK with resources to accelerate discovery and deployment. Even from behind the scenes, it’s clear: these investments aren’t just about hardware. They’re about putting reliable, secure compute in the hands of those ready to build, adapt, and scale the next generation of solutions. The ripple effect for operational capacity, efficiency, and innovation in the UK will be enormous, and I can’t wait to see what the ecosystem does next. Interested in reading more on what this means? https://lnkd.in/eDWCEt3P (Credit Sky News for the photo!)

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I was pleased to contribute to CRN UK's recent feature on the UK’s plan to build 100 new data centres, an ambition that carries both opportunity and responsibility. The industry stands at a pivotal moment. Data centre growth is critical to powering the UK’s digital economy, but it must also be sustainable in the truest sense: designed to endure over the long term. That means building for today while planning for tomorrow, embedding circular lifecycle models, reducing water consumption, reusing heat originally sourced from renewable energy, and designing data centres with a strong focus on minimising impacts on local communities. With AI and digital transformation advancing at pace, our strategies must adapt just as rapidly. https://lnkd.in/dkHTB_Gm

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Wow, the energy impact of using Microsoft collaboration tools is surprisingly large! We've just completed some fascinating actual energy usage testing that showed how user behaviour massively impacts the power consumption of #Copilot, #Teams & #Outlook. The results make for uncomfortable reading: 1) Having cameras on in Teams meetings more than doubled power use. Turning them off by default instantly halved energy related emissions. 2) Screen sharing in Teams increased energy consumption by nearly 40%. 3) Using Copilot added between 45% to 80% more energy use, with limited accuracy or real value being reported. 4) Background apps were a hidden drain. Leaving Outlook open all day across a large workforce can easily waste close to 100-200 MWh of energy each year. 5) Outlook consumed 85% less power when minimised. And when you multiply small inefficiencies by the roughly 320 million global users of Teams alone, the system-level impact is huge. Also, for home workers, don't forget the impact on your home power bill! This is just the start of our testing as we're looking at testing on many different device types, are adding in new scenarios, like Copilot in other Office apps and more. But... it goes to show that our obsession with online meetings and shoehorning #AI into every conversation has a massive impact on the planet. Don't be an accidental energy vampire!

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