AI This Week

The state of Pennsylvania is facing an escalating energy crisis driven by artificial intelligence and its growing demands for power. The state’s governor threatens to leave the grid provider PJM Interconnection due to skyrocketing electricity prices. PJM faces challenges meeting demand from data centers and AI operations, with an 800% increase in capacity auction prices last year. The organization is fast-tracking new power projects, but many won’t be operational until the 2030s. Consumer energy costs are projected to rise 20% this summer. PJM estimates needing an additional 32 gigawatts of power capacity by 2030 to meet growing demand.

A new initiative is bringing artificial intelligence into classrooms across the United States. Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI are funding the National Academy for AI Instruction, a $23 million project aimed at training educators on using AI technologies. The American Federation of Teachers is spearheading this effort, which will offer free virtual training to its 1.8 million members. The academy, set to launch this fall in Manhattan, plans to train 400,000 educators over five years.

Wimbledon faced major embarrassment during Sonay Kartal’s match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova when an official accidentally deactivated the AI line-judging system mid-game. The incident left critical calls unaddressed, forcing chair umpire Nico Helwerth to halt play. With the score tied and tensions high, players were left uncertain in what proved to be an embarrassing moment for tournament organizers. Former champion Pat Cash criticized the umpire’s inability to act, calling the situation “ridiculous.”

The All England Club admitted the mishap stemmed from human error and reviewed its processes afterward. This AI glitch comes amid rising player complaints about inaccuracies, raising concerns over its efficacy, especially on grass courts. Questions persist about Wimbledon’s reliance on technology without backup video review systems.

A new report highlights how Google’s AI Overviews feature is driving a sharp increase in “zero clicks” for news-related searches, leaving publishers struggling. Since its launch in May 2024, the tool has contributed to a drop in traffic to news sites — a decrease from 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to 1.7 billion in May 2025, as per SimilarWeb data. AI summaries allow users to consume information directly, bypassing traditional sources. Google has faced criticism but argues its AI tools create new opportunities for content discovery. Meanwhile, referral traffic from ChatGPT has surged, offering a potential lifeline for some outlets. As the media industry faces layoffs and shifting referral patterns, questions remain about how publishers can adapt.

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has raised a staggering $10 billion in combined debt and equity. Morgan Stanley confirmed that $5 billion came from secured notes and loans, while the other $5 billion resulted from strategic equity investments. These funds will drive the development of xAI’s flagship Grok AI model and bolster infrastructure, including its Colossus supercomputer in Memphis—a facility with plans to amass 1 million GPUs. Positioned as a rival to OpenAI and Anthropic, xAI aims to disrupt the competitive AI landscape with its distinct “truth-seeking,” controversial approach. Musk has integrated Grok with the X social media platform and continues scaling operations. The firm’s valuation, once at $80 billion, may evolve with this new funding.