An Irish dairy farmer has found an unusual way to use the excess energy produced on his farm – he turned to the issue of mining.

Tom Campbell, a farm manager in County Armagh in Northern Ireland, produces renewable energy using a method called anaerobic digestion. At the same time, biodegradable materials are broken down to such an extent that methane gas is formed, which can already be used to generate electricity.

Campbell uses electricity mainly to power his farm, but when there is a surplus of energy that cannot be exported (sold) to the grid, he uses it to mine cryptocurrency. Mining involves the use of specialized miner computers to solve complex mathematical equations, and successful miners are rewarded in the form of BTC. Bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy, and Campbell’s farm produces up to 700 kilowatts of electricity, the equivalent of powering nearly 12,000 households.

The Irish government has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030. However, over 35% of these emissions come from the agricultural sector in Ireland, with cows being the main source. With 7.3 million cows in the country, the environmentally sound disposal of their waste is critical. Anaerobic digestion is a promising solution with the potential to generate enough electricity for every household in Ireland if 41% of farms switch to this technology. This can make a significant contribution to meeting a country’s greenhouse gas emission targets.

Campbell’s decision to mine bitcoin may seem unusual, but it makes sense from an economic standpoint. When demand for electricity on the grid is low, miners can use excess clean energy. In this way, Campbell can sell excess electricity to the grid as renewable, “green” electricity, while profiting from bitcoin mining.

In the world, more and more people are talking about the need to control the development of artificial intelligence (AI). And it’s not just media people and ordinary people. Specialists also make such statements. Artificial intelligence specialist Eliezer Yudkowsky said that it is necessary to limit the computing power for training AI around the world. And for this, according to him, you can even bomb too powerful data centers in other countries.

According to Yudkovsky, the survival of mankind and biological life in general is currently in potential danger due to the development of AI, and this process is not controlled in any way. The expert believes that the emergence of a full-fledged AI capable of self-awareness threatens everyone.

According to the specialist, it is necessary to ban experiments with AI for all companies, except for government and military departments, and he suggests bombing data centers with violators, since any conflict between countries will be less destructive than a war of people with AI.

At the same time, it is noteworthy that Eliezer Yudkowsky did a lot to accelerate the development of “artificial general intelligence” (AGI), which, potentially, can realize itself at some stage.

Others are asking similar questions. An open letter has been published online suggesting a moratorium of at least 6 months to delay the emergence of AI more powerful than GPT-4. Yudkovsky positively assessed this initiative, although he himself did not sign the letter. But Elon Musk and other AI experts signed it.

Also earlier, OpenAI published a set of criteria for AI that can help regulate this area.

In Italy, they decided to block the popular chat bot ChatGPT. A government body called the Privacy Guarantor has issued an order temporarily restricting the processing of Italian users’ data in relation to the company OpenAI, which is the creator of ChatGPT.

At the same time, these actions are not at all due to the capabilities of the chatbot, but to the recent leak of confidential user data. In addition, the regulator notes the lack of a legal framework that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data in order to train the algorithms underlying the platform.

Also Privacy Guarantor that sometimes ChatGPT may provide incorrect or completely false data. According to the regulator, OpenAI is also not worried about children’s access to the service. Even though the ChatGPT rules state that only people over the age of 13 can use the chatbot, the platform does not have any age verification tool.

According to the ruling, OpenAI must report within 20 days on the measures taken to comply with the requirements. Otherwise, the company faces a fine of up to 20 million euros or up to 4% of the company’s annual turnover.