OpenAI Abandons UK AI Project Due to High Energy Costs

0:00On April 10th, open AI, the crew behind Chat GPT, just shelved their massive Stargate UK project, a multi-billion-pound push for AI data centers herein. Britain, high energy costs, and too much red tape killed it, pinning the blame on the rush to net zero emissions. Those industrial electricity prices are the highest in the developed world, double what U.S. firms pay, thanks to ditching North Sea oil and gas for, wind and solar. That labors windfall taxes on energy operators and no wonder investments are drying up, especially with global tensions like the Iran situation, spiking import bills. Critics are firing back hard, Tory spokesman call it, suicidal policy, costing jobs and leaving young people high and dry. Think tanks like Tony Blair's are pushing to unlock North Sea fields like Jack Dar Gas and Rosebank Oil, and even Kier Starmer's nodding along, saying, oil and gas should stay in the mix for years.

1:00The project, announced last September, with NVIDIA and British firm end-scale, planned up to 31,000 AI chips across sites like Kolbal Park. Near Newcastle, it was set to power sovereign AI for public services, finance and security, but those power-hungry data centers couldn't handle the costs. Open AI still eyes UK's AI potential, and wants to push forward once energy and rules improve. Britain's talking tough, vowed to team up and boost compute power, but this joins other hits like AstraZeneca's plan cuts. Britain's got talent, just needs the juice to compete.