Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Are we building a new Tower of Babel?

The future of AI

The advent of artificial intelligence, which offers effortless translation, poses a risk to the authenticity and depth of human connection.

Published 10 March 2024
– By Thorsteinn Siglaugsson

5 minute read
This is an opinion piece. The author is responsible for the views expressed in the article.

The other day I attended a conference hosted by an international software company. The presenters came from various countries, all speaking in English. English is the corporate language. But none of them were native English speakers, which was obvious. It made me think about how strange it is when people spend most of their time communicating in a language they don’t fully know and can never really master. All the nuances are lost, all the linguistic creativity, the ambiguity, the unspoken words, the hidden sarcasm, and the secret humour.

Shortly after, I was coaching one of my students, a German software specialist who speaks quite decent English, but still, we spent a lot of time figuring out exactly what he meant by a particular paragraph. I asked him if he couldn’t just tell me in German. “Do you speak German?” he asked. “Well, I learned it in high school,” I replied, “but it might be a stretch to say that means I know German.” Then we just laughed. Eventually, we managed to resolve the issue, in English, which neither of us speaks perfectly. Did we understand the paragraph in the same way? Surely not.

Being able to speak any language, but understand none

But now we have artificial intelligence. And whether we like it better or worse, AI is considerably better at English than almost every non-native speaker, and indeed a large part of those as well. The style is admittedly flat, but the same applies when people express themselves in a language they don’t fully master. Soon, we can expect technology to have generally reached the level where in phone calls and remote meetings we can simply speak our own mother tongue, and let artificial intelligence instantly translate the content into any other language.

AI is considerably better at English than almost every non-native speaker, and indeed a large part of those as well.

The Swede working in the international software company then simply speaks Swedish to the Ukrainian or Frenchman, and they just hear the Ukrainian or French version and respond in their own language. And when Elon Musk or those others now working hard to develop brain chips have progressed further, it might even be enough to press a button on the remote brain control we will soon all carry, to switch languages and speak French, Ukrainian, Swahili, or Hindi as needed. But of course, without understanding a word of what comes out of our mouths.

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OpenAI opens data center in Norway

The future of AI

Published 3 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
In Norway, OpenAI is planning to establish one of Europe's largest AI data centers as part of the global Stargate project.
2 minute read

In Norway, OpenAI plans to establish one of Europe’s largest AI data centers as part of the global Stargate project. The facility will be built in the northern parts of the country and operated entirely on renewable energy.

Stargate was launched earlier this year as a comprehensive AI initiative with the goal of strengthening the US dominance in artificial intelligence. The project is a collaboration between American OpenAI and Oracle, along with Japanese SoftBank, with the ambition to build a global AI infrastructure at a cost of up to $500 billion over the next four years. This makes Stargate one of the largest technology investments in history.

First in Europe

On Thursday, OpenAI announced that the company plans to open a Stargate-branded data center in Norway. It will be the company’s first European facility of this kind.

The data center will be located in Kvandal, outside Narvik in northern Norway, and built in collaboration with British company Nscale and Norwegian Aker. OpenAI will function as a so-called “off-taker”, meaning the company will purchase capacity from the facility to power its AI services.

Part of the purpose of this project is to partner with OpenAI and leverage European sovereign compute to release additional services and features to the European continent, says Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale, in an interview with CNBC.

Powered by hydroelectric energy

The data center, planned to be completed in 2026, will house up to 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs and have a capacity of 230 megawatts – making it one of the largest AI facilities in Europe. The facility will be operated entirely on so-called “green energy”, made possible by the region’s access to hydroelectric power.

The first phase of the project involves an investment of approximately $2 billion. Nscale and Aker have committed to contributing $1 billion each. The initial capacity is estimated at 20 megawatts, with ambitions to expand significantly in the coming years.

Zuckerberg: Skipping AI glasses puts you at a “cognitive disadvantage”

The future of AI

Published 1 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"The ideal form factor for AI, because you can let an AI see what you see throughout the day, hear what you hear, and talk to you", believes the Meta CEO.
2 minute read

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg warns that people without AI glasses will find themselves at a significant mental “disadvantage” in the future. During the company’s quarterly report, he shared his vision of glasses as the primary way to interact with artificial intelligence.

On Thursday, Meta released its quarterly report. In a call directed at investors, CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the company’s investment in smart glasses and warned about the consequences of staying outside this development, reports TechCrunch.

I continue to think that glasses are basically going to be the ideal form factor for AI, because you can let an AI see what you see throughout the day, hear what you hear, and talk to you, Zuckerberg said during the investor call.

By adding screens, even more value can be unlocked, he argued, whether it involves holographic fields of vision or smaller displays in everyday AI glasses.

I think in the future, if you don’t have glasses that have AI – or some way to interact with AI – I think you’re … probably going to be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people, he added.

Unexpected success

Meta has focused on “smart” glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta models. The glasses allow users to listen to music, take photos and ask questions to Meta AI. The products have become a surprising success – revenue from Ray-Ban Meta glasses more than tripled compared to the previous year.

However, the Reality Labs division has been costly. Meta reported $4,53 billion in operating losses for the second quarter, and since 2020, the unit has lost nearly $70 billion.

Competition is growing. OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s startup company this spring for $6.5 billion to develop AI devices, while other companies are exploring AI brooches and pendants.

However, Zuckerberg is convinced about the future of glasses and connects them to the Metaverse vision.

The other thing that’s awesome about glasses is they are going to be the ideal way to blend the physical and digital worlds together, he concluded.

Meta has previously been known for contributing to the increasing surveillance society and has also ignored health aspects regarding radiation from wireless technology.

Samsung and Tesla sign billion-dollar deal for AI chip manufacturing

The future of AI

Published 31 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Image of the construction of Samsung's large chip factory in Taylor, located in Texas, USA.
2 minute read

South Korean tech giant Samsung has entered into a comprehensive agreement with Tesla to manufacture next-generation AI chips. The contract, which extends until 2033, is worth $16.5 billion and means Samsung will dedicate its new Texas-based factory to producing Tesla’s AI6 chips.

Samsung receives a significant boost for its semiconductor manufacturing through the new partnership with Tesla. The electric vehicle manufacturer has chosen to place production of its advanced AI6 chips at Samsung’s facility in Texas, in a move that could change competitive dynamics within the semiconductor industry, writes TechCrunch.

The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate, wrote Tesla founder Elon Musk on X when the deal was announced.

The agreement represents an important milestone for Samsung, which has previously struggled to attract and retain major customers for its chip manufacturing. According to Musk, Tesla may end up spending significantly more than the original $16.5 billion on Samsung chips.

Actual output is likely to be several times higher, he explained in a later post.

Tesla’s chip strategy takes shape

The AI6 chips form the core of Tesla’s ambition to evolve from car manufacturer to an AI and robotics company. The new generation chip is designed as an all-around solution that can be used both for the company’s Full Self-Driving system and for the humanoid robots of the Optimus model that Tesla is developing, as well as for high-performance AI training in data centers.

Tesla is working in parallel with Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC for production of AI5 chips, whose design was recently completed. These will initially be manufactured at TSMC’s facility in Taiwan and later also in Arizona. Samsung already produces Tesla’s AI4 chips.

Since 2019, Tesla has developed its own custom chips after leaving Nvidia’s Drive platform. The first self-developed chipset, known as FSD Computer or Hardware 3, was launched the same year and installed in all of the company’s electric vehicles.

Musk promises personal involvement

In an unusual turn, Samsung has agreed to let Tesla assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency at the Texas factory. Musk has promised personal presence to accelerate progress.

This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house, he wrote.

The strategic partnership could give Samsung the stable customer volume the company needs to compete with industry leader TSMC, while Tesla secures access to advanced chip manufacturing for its growing AI ambitions.

Artists flee Spotify after Ek’s defense investment

The future of AI

Published 30 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
1 minute read

Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s investment in the German defense company Helsing is now prompting several international artists to leave the music streaming service in protest. The Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is the latest name to remove their music from the platform.

Daniel Ek, who is also chairman of the board at Helsing, led an investment of €600 million earlier this year in the German company that specializes in AI-driven autonomous combat solutions. The technology is used for drones and underwater surveillance systems, among other applications.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announced the decision on Instagram with the words “Fuck Spotify”, explaining that their latest demo recordings will only be available on Bandcamp.

“Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in Al military drone technology. We just removed our music from the platform”, the band wrote.

The California-based band Xiu Xiu and San Francisco group Deerhoof have made the same choice. Deerhoof expressed their position clearly: “We don’t want our music killing people. We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech”.

The protest reflects the music industry’s long-standing ambivalence toward Spotify’s dominant position and impact on artists.

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