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9 August 2026

Amazon's cloud has real clouds now

The Hallucination HQ

AI news that's actually fun to read — 2026-08-09

Today's Hallucination HQ

Amazon Builds a Data Centre. Texas Pays for it in Smoke.

Amazon's new West Texas data centre needs power, so the company is funding a gas-burning plant in Pecos County that could become one of the single largest greenhouse gas emitters in the United States. The New York Times raised the alarm; Amazon has not visibly flinched. Apparently, the cloud has never been more committed to producing actual clouds — the grey, choking variety that Texas didn't ask for. Source: The Verge


OpenAI Builds a Hacker. Notes This in the Small Print.

OpenAI's upcoming Astra model can apparently solve genuine, real-world hacking challenges at a level the company classifies as "critical." They disclosed this quietly in a Sunday blog post — because nothing says responsible AI development like burying your cyber-capable model's threat assessment over the weekend. Astra isn't released yet, which is either reassuring or simply a scheduling matter. Source: SiliconANGLE News


OpenAI Acquires Startup, Absorbs Its Humans, Says Nothing Further

OpenAI has acquired NextSlide, a presentation-focused startup, in what the company has communicated with spectacular economy: NextSlide's team is now working on ChatGPT. No price disclosed, no grand vision announced, no breathless press release. Just a quiet absorption, like a whale eating a particularly well-designed shrimp. One assumes the team's first task was not a slide deck. Source: TechCrunch


Nvidia Writes Lancium a £2.3 Billion Cheque, Calls it an Investment

Nvidia is putting up to $3 billion into Lancium, the power infrastructure firm building the Stargate data centre campus in Texas — with an initial $2 billion buying roughly a 20% stake. For context, Nvidia is now so flush with chip revenue that a $3 billion infrastructure bet barely registers as a rounding error. Jensen Huang is essentially buying the extension on the house that already burned through his neighbour's electricity. Source: CNA


Young People Have Found a Relationship Counsellor. It Has No Feelings.

According to Livemint, young adults are increasingly turning to AI chatbots to manage emotional conversations they'd rather not have directly — processing feelings, rehearsing difficult talks, occasionally outsourcing the difficult talk entirely. It's the digital equivalent of asking a very patient, utterly indifferent librarian for relationship advice. The chatbot, for its part, is always available, never tired, and profoundly unbothered by your attachment style. Source: Livemint


As always, the machines are fine. It's everyone else we're watching.


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