Regina Barber

It was produced for Shortwave by Burley McCoy and edited by showrunner Rebecca Ramirez. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to this special collab episode of Shortwave from NPR.

A quick note before we start today's show. You may have heard that President Trump has issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR. This is the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the country. The executive order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of public media organizations.

A quick note before we start today's show. You may have heard that President Trump has issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR. This is the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the country. The executive order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of public media organizations.

A quick note before we start today's show. You may have heard that President Trump has issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR. This is the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the country. The executive order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of public media organizations.

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It's also an affront to the First Amendment rights of the American people. NPR remains committed to serving the public. That's you. We lay out the facts and bring you stories that spark your curiosity that you won't find anywhere else. This is a pivotal moment. It's more important than ever that every supporter who can contribute comes together to pitch in as much as they are able.

It's also an affront to the First Amendment rights of the American people. NPR remains committed to serving the public. That's you. We lay out the facts and bring you stories that spark your curiosity that you won't find anywhere else. This is a pivotal moment. It's more important than ever that every supporter who can contribute comes together to pitch in as much as they are able.

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Visit donate.npr.org now to give. And if you already support us via NPR Plus or another means, thank you. Your support means so much to us, now more than ever. You help make NPR shows freely available to everyone. We are proud to do this work for you and with you.

Visit donate.npr.org now to give. And if you already support us via NPR Plus or another means, thank you. Your support means so much to us, now more than ever. You help make NPR shows freely available to everyone. We are proud to do this work for you and with you.

Hey, short wavers. Regina Barber here with my co-host, Emily Kwong, with the second half of a miniseries she reported on the environmental footprint of AI.

Hey, short wavers. Regina Barber here with my co-host, Emily Kwong, with the second half of a miniseries she reported on the environmental footprint of AI.

Hey, short wavers. Regina Barber here with my co-host, Emily Kwong, with the second half of a miniseries she reported on the environmental footprint of AI.

Yeah, you were saying that AI innovation was causing this surge in energy and water use to cool data centers. And the construction of those data centers was only going to increase.

Yeah, you were saying that AI innovation was causing this surge in energy and water use to cool data centers. And the construction of those data centers was only going to increase.

Yeah, you were saying that AI innovation was causing this surge in energy and water use to cool data centers. And the construction of those data centers was only going to increase.

It's like the amount of energy that Canada consumed two years ago. Okay, so U.S. data centers alone could someday use a Canada-sized amount of energy. They could. Wow.

It's like the amount of energy that Canada consumed two years ago. Okay, so U.S. data centers alone could someday use a Canada-sized amount of energy. They could. Wow.

It's like the amount of energy that Canada consumed two years ago. Okay, so U.S. data centers alone could someday use a Canada-sized amount of energy. They could. Wow.

And a model is just like an AI program that's trained to take in data and like output data.