Anthropic works on cryptographic checks for AI model identity
The FlashProve research project would allow users to check a model’s identity without exposing its private internal parameters.
AI data centers turn to converted aircraft engines amid power delays
xAI has installed eight converted turbines to help power Colossus 2, while Crusoe ordered 13 units for the Abilene campus it is building.
Elon Musk’s xAI has installed eight turbines made from retired aircraft engines in Mississippi to help power its Colossus 2 facility in Memphis, according to a media report citing satellite imagery and state permits. The equipment is being used as some AI data center operators face years of waiting for grid connections and new turbines.
ProEnergy supplies the converted units, rebuilding GE engines used on Boeing aircraft so they can burn natural gas. Crusoe, the Denver-based startup constructing OpenAI’s first Stargate campus in Abilene, Texas, ordered 13 ProEnergy units in April.
Speed is a key attraction. Audun Martinsen, an analyst at Rystad Energy, said the converted engines could enable a data center to start running within 24 months. The International Energy Agency puts the wait for a 100-megawatt grid connection in Northern Virginia at about seven years.
Power shortages have also affected customer commitments. Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer for Nscale’s Loughton facility in England after the local utility said it could not provide sufficient electricity until the early to mid-2030s.
Crusoe also abandoned a $1.25 billion agreement in September to purchase 29 natural gas turbines from Boom Supersonic. A Crusoe spokesperson said at the time that the company still intended to use turbines.
The Trump administration is encouraging data centers to generate electricity themselves. But converted aircraft engines have lower efficiency and produce more pollution than conventional gas-plant turbines, according to the media report. Producing equivalent power also requires more units.