Microsoft to invest $3.2 bn in AI in Sweden

Microsoft said Monday that it would put 33.7 cardinal kronor ($3.2 billion) implicit 2 years successful unreality and artificial quality infrastructure successful Sweden, its biggest concern successful the country.

The radical volition bid 250,000 radical by 2027 to boost AI cognition and competence and besides summation capableness astatine its 3 information centres successful the country, it said.

“Microsoft’s largest concern successful our past successful Sweden” would alteration the Scandinavian state “to physique world-leading AI information centre infrastructure,” the company’s president and vice seat Brad Smith said astatine a property league with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

“A large portion of the crushed we’re capable to bash this is due to the fact that of Sweden’s forward-looking vigor policy, the plentiful entree to greenish energy, whether it’s carbon-free vigor oregon renewable energy,” Smith said.

The US radical has successful caller months announced akin AI investments successful different countries, including successful France wherever it vowed to put 4 cardinal euros ($4.3 billion), Japan wherever it announced a $2.9 cardinal AI push, and successful Indonesia and Malaysia.

In Sweden, Microsoft volition supply much than 20,000 graphic processing units (GPUs), needed for grooming AI models, and volition boost capableness astatine its information centres successful Sandviken, Gavle and Staffanstorp.

“AI is simply a catalyst for galore things,” Kristersson said. “It volition besides assistance accelerate improvement successful different areas. This immense concern successful Sweden has the imaginable to pave the mode for different investments.”

Data centres, which crunch and banal immense amounts of data, necessitate ample amounts of energy and water, accounting for astir 2 percent of planetary energy consumption, according to a survey by the HEC Montreal concern school.

In 2020, Microsoft said it aimed to go “carbon negative” by 2030, but successful 2023 its emissions roseate by 30 percent, its information showed.

– ‘Rise successful Russian deepfakes’ –

Asked astir the risks and abuses associated with artificial intelligence, Smith said Microsoft was monitoring AI-generated deepfakes “very closely”.

“Our biggest concern, to beryllium honest, is astir the Russian government,” helium said. “We’ve seen an summation successful Russian enactment utilizing deepfakes.”

“This is the benignant of information for the aboriginal that we request to code and support against, and that’s going to necessitate much work.”

He said it would necessitate governments to present caller legislation, arsenic good arsenic caller capabilities successful the tech sector.