In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), where data crunching and machine-learning algorithms reign supreme, the demand for energy has emerged as a critical concern. Mark P. Mills, the executive director of the National Center for Energy Analytics (an initiative I oversee at the Texas Public Policy Foundation), argues that the energy requirements for AI systems are far more substantial than most of us know. His insights paint a sobering picture of the energy landscape that awaits us as AI continues its relentless advance into every facet of modern life.

Mills contends that the computational intensity of AI applications, such as deep learning and real-time data processing, is driving an unprecedented surge in energy consumption. According to the International Energy Agency, the global electricity consumption by AI alone could reach 1,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually by 2026, slightly more than the total electricity consumption of Japan. The appetite will be formidable as it becomes integral to industries ranging from health care to finance, and transportation to agriculture.

At the heart of the debate lies a fundamental question: Can renewable energy sources adequately power the AI revolution? Silicon Valley, home to tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Tesla, has been a vocal advocate for renewable energy solutions. Many of these companies have committed to ambitious sustainability goals, including achieving carbon neutrality or even operating entirely on renewable energy. Most of these promises are hollow, at best, in that they rely on periodic renewable energy contracts to make the claim that they’re 100 percent

Last week, Michigan passed legislation obstructing the process of recounting votes in the event of suspected election fraud this November. Senate Bills 603 and 604 would, if enacted, thwart the ability to recount votes through several means, chiefly by requiring any fraud allegations to be referred to the county prosecutor (i.e. Democrat district attorneys), rather than conducting a recount through bipartisan boards. 

Republican state senators are sounding the alarm on the threat this poses to the integrity of their state’s elections. The pair of bills, passed in conjunction with one another, invite voter fraud by making investigating the fraud nearly impossible.

Each county in Michigan has a board of canvassers that reports to the Board of State Canvassers. Each board is bipartisan with two Democrats and two Republicans. Under current Michigan law, these boards have the authority to investigate fraud with respect to voting. But these Democrat-pushed bills completely strip that away. Not only do they double the fees for a candidate to request a recount, but they also change the definition of what constitutes investigation at all. 

“Under current law, recounts of votes can be done based on the allegation of fraud or a mistake. The legislation removes fraud as a reason for a recount,” a statement released last week from Michigan House Republicans reads. “It also states that recount petitions may only allege an error and must state that there would have been a different outcome in the election without that error.”

These bills not only remove potential

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The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday to uphold a Lone Star State law that effectively bans gender experimentation on children.

In an 8-1 decision published on Friday, the highest court in the state confirmed the legislature’s May 2023 law prohibiting health care professionals from castrating and mutilating minors does not violate the state constitution, as a trial court had previously concluded.

In fact, Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle, joined by Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, Justice Jeff Boyd, Justice John Phillip Devine, Justice Jimmy Blacklock, Justice Brett Busby, Justice Jane Bland, and Justice Evan Young, affirmed in her majority opinion that the state has a vested interest in protecting children.

“Indeed, we have never held that a fit parent’s interest in caring for her child free from government interference, though weighty, triggers heightened scrutiny of every statute that restricts any asserted right connected to that interest,” Huddle wrote.

Huddle confirmed that the court believes kids, including those struggling with their sex, “deserve the most appropriate treatment together with support, love, and empathy.” She stopped short, however of pinpointing “the most appropriate treatment for a child suffering from gender dysphoria.”

Justice Blacklock, joined by Justice Devine, was far more hard-hitting about the parents and practitioners prescribing irreversible damage to kids as a solution in his concurring opinion.

“We are men and women, irreducibly and inescapably, no matter how we feel. Proceeding from these moral and philosophical premises, the Traditional Vision naturally holds that medicinal or