Providence Technology Group

A startup specializing in carbon-negative artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure powered by renewable energy systems has acquired the idled Buena Vista Biomass Power facility in Ione, California, and plans to convert the legacy wood-burning plant into a 41-MW “carbon-negative AI factory.” The redevelopment announced on Jan. 14, which New York-based NewYork GreenCloud (NYGC) is executing with biomass-to-pyrolysis engineering firm BucSha Energy, seeks to convert the existing 18-MW biomass facility into a 41-MW plant that will supply renewable baseload power directly to on-site AI training and inference operations. Keep Reading This Article at Power

The California Privacy Protection Agency has officially launched the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP. This new state-run system allows Californians to demand that more than 500 registered data brokers delete their personal information and stop selling it, all through a single centralized website. Keep Reading This Article at FOXLA.com

California is shifting from traditional traffic stops to automated radar systems that can clock a speeding car, capture its license plate and trigger a ticket with little or no human involvement. The move reflects a broader effort to cut deadly crashes on some of the state’s most dangerous roads by relying on cameras and software instead of patrol cars and sirens. As cities begin to deploy these systems, the debate is no longer about whether automated enforcement is coming, but how it will work and who it will affect. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

Startups flush with cash are building AI-assisted laboratories to find materials far faster and more cheaply, but are still waiting for their ChatGPT moment. The microwave-size instrument at Lila Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, doesn’t look all that different from others that I’ve seen in state-of-the-art materials labs. Inside its vacuum chamber, the machine zaps a palette of different elements to create vaporized particles, which then fly through the chamber and land to create a thin film, using a technique called sputtering. What sets this instrument apart is that artificial intelligence is running the experiment; an AI agent, trained on vast amounts of scientific literature and data, has determined the recipe and is varying the combination of elements. Keep Reading This Article a...[Read More]

Data centers that power AI use massive amounts of water and electricity. Here’s how companies are working to reduce their strain on resources If you haven’t noticed, data centers have been sprouting up all over. And they’re mighty thirsty. Inside these secured, windowless compounds, where servers hum and data never sleeps, AI systems guzzle millions of gallons of water (a single large data center can consume as much water as a town of 10,000 people, or even more) just to stay cool. Keep Reading This Article at Comstock Magazine

California’s Chief Information Officer and Department of Technology (CDT) Director Liana Bailey-Crimmins is using the state’s Digital Identity Gateway to rally agencies and vendors around a shared approach to online identification. As the gateway moves from pilot to platform, she is encouraging more departments to build on the service so residents can use a single digital identity to reach a growing set of state programs. Keep Reading This Article at MobileIDWorld

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E) has awarded UC Davis researchers a $3 million grant to develop a bio‑based process that selectively captures rare earth elements from acidic mine‑influenced and industrial wastewater streams. Keep Reading This Article at Electronics Weekly

Waymo’s self-driving vehicles now have the go-ahead to operate in the capital region, following a decision quietly made last week by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to expand the company’s driverless testing territory beyond the Bay Area and Los Angeles. But don’t expect to hail an autonomous taxi just yet. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

A major safety study led by UC Davis Health tested an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered electrocardiogram (ECG) model to see how well it could detect severe heart attacks. The findings showed that the Queen of Hearts AI-based ECG platform outperformed standard triage in the emergency department and two other locations. It identified ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attacks more accurately and with far fewer false alarms. Keep Reading This Article at UC Davis Health

Ever since California’s DELETE Act was signed into law two years ago, attention quickly shifted to how the California Privacy Protection Agency would develop its one-stop-shop platform for consumers to request deletion of their personal information held by data brokers. During a breakout session at the IAPP’s Privacy. Security. Risk. 2025 conference in San Diego, several CalPrivacy staff members showcased how the new Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP system, will work. During the conference several industry stakeholders shared their reactions to the DROP system demonstration, as well as their thoughts on automated deletion requirements more broadly. Keep Reading This Article at IAPP

There are around 9,000 political lobbyists in Sacramento, the capital of the fourth-largest economy in the world – but look beyond the backroom deal-making of California’s Capitol building and you’ll find a city in pursuit of reinvention. Sacramento is ready to shed its reputation as a “government town,” as Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC), refers to it, and become a central part of the US’ semiconductor industry. Keep Reading This Article at Investment Monitor

In a groundbreaking move, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two California bills that make it illegal to use AI to impersonate an actor’s voice, likeness, or performance without their explicit permission. The bills, AB 1836 and AB 2602, aim to extend protections for performers in the age of synthetic media. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com