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Valerie ran off while she was on a camping trip with her owners back in 2023 on a remote island in Australia. They had lost hope until locals spotted her more than a year later, surviving in the wild.

This week, vaccines took a hit from the Trump administration, some reality TV stars got pardoned, and there was a media frenzy around a certain French interaction. Were you paying attention?

You no longer need to be a software engineer to build software — you can "vibe code" it by prompting chatbots to build apps and websites. Could that put programmers out of a job?

(Image credit: bondapp.io)

The Justice Department and Google have one final chance to convince a federal judge how the tech giant should change its practices so it can no longer monopolize the search market.

(Image credit: SERGEI GAPON)

Elon Musk is leaving the Department of Government Efficiency effort. His 130 day tenure was marked by legal setbacks, overstated savings claims and little evidence DOGE made things more efficient.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla)

As demand for AI and cloud computing soars, pundits are suggesting that the world is teetering on the edge of a potential data center crunch—where capacity can’t keep up with the digital load. Concerns and the hype have led to plummeting vacancy rates: in Northern Virginia, the world's largest data center market, for example, vacancy rates have fallen below 1%.

Echoing past fears of "peak oil" and "peak food," the spotlight now turns to "peak data." But rather than stall, the industry is evolving—adopting modular builds, renewable energy, and AI-optimized systems to redefine how tomorrow’s data centers will power an increasingly digital world.

1. Shift Toward Modular and Edge Data Centers

Future data centers will increasingly move away from massive centralized facilities alone, embracing smaller, modular, and edge-based data centers. The sector is already splitting out in hyperscale data centers one end and smaller, edge-oriented facilities on the other.

Smaller, modular and edge data centers can be built in a few months and tend to be located closer to end users to reduce latency. Unlike the huge campuses of hyperscale with facilities often covering millions of square feet these smaller data centers are sometimes built into repurposed buildings such as abandoned shopping malls, empty office towers, and factories in disuse, helping requalify ex-industrial brownfield areas.

Leaner centers can be rapidly deployed, located closer to end users for reduced latency, and tailored to specific workloads such as autonomous vehicles and AR.

2. Integration with Renewable and On-Site Power Sources

To address energy demands and grid constraints, future data centers will increasingly be co-located with power generation facilities, such as nuclear or renewable plants. This reduces reliance on strained grid infrastructure and improves energy stability. Some companies are investing in nuclear power. Nuclear power provides massive, always-on power that is also free of carbon emissions. Modular reactors are being considered to overcome grid bottlenecks, long wait times for power delivery, and local utility limits.

Similarly, they will be increasingly built in areas where the climate reduces operational strain. Lower cooling costs and access to water enables the use of energy-efficient liquid-cooling systems instead of air-cooling. We will be seeing more data centers pop up in places like Scandinavia and the Pacific Northwest.

3. Operational Optimization

Artificial intelligence will play a major role in managing and optimizing data center operations, particularly for cooling and energy use. For instance, reinforcement learning algorithms are being used to cut energy use by optimizing cooling systems, achieving up to 21% energy savings.

Similarly, fixes like replacing legacy servers with more energy-efficient machines, with newer chips or thermal design, can significantly expand compute capacity, without requiring new premises.

4. Hardware Density and Efficiency Improvements

Instead of only building new facilities, future capacity will be expanded by refreshing hardware with newer, denser, and more energy-efficient servers. This allows for more compute power in the same footprint, enabling quick scaling to meet surges in demand, particularly for AI workloads. These power-hungry centers are also putting a strain on electricity grids.

Future data centers will leverage new solutions such as load shifting to optimize energy efficiency. Google is already partnering with PJM Interconnection, the largest electrical grid operator in North America, to leverage AI to automate tasks such as viability assessments of connection applications, thus enhancing grid efficiency.

Issues are typically not due to lack of energy but insufficient transmission capacity.

In addition to this, fortunately, data centers are usually running well below full capacity specifically to accommodate future growth. This added capacity will prove useful as facilities accommodate unexpected traffic spikes, and rapid scaling needs without requiring new constructions.

5. Geographically and Politically Responsive Siting

Future data center locations will be chosen based on climate efficiency, grid access, and political zoning policies but also availability of AI-skilled workforce. Data centers aren’t server rooms—they’re among the most complex IT infrastructure projects in existence, requiring seamless power, cooling, high-speed networking, and top-tier security.

Building them involves a wide range of experts, from engineers to logistics teams, coordinating everything from semiconductors to industrial HVAC systems. Data centers will thus drive up the demand for high-performance networking, thermal, power redundancy, and advanced cooling engineers.

Looking to the future

It’s clear that the recent surge in infrastructure demand to power GPUs and high-performance computing, for example, is being driven primarily by AI. In fact, training massive models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Google’s Gemini requires immense computational resources, consuming GPU cycles at an astonishing rate. These training runs often last weeks and involve thousands of specialized chips, drawing on power and cooling infrastructure.

But the story doesn’t end there: even when a model is trained, running these models in real-time to generate responses, make predictions, or process user inputs (so-called AI inference) adds a new layer of energy demand. While not as intense as training, inference must happen at scale and with low latency, which means it’s placing a steady, ongoing load on cloud infrastructure.

However, here’s a nuance that’s frequently glossed over in much of the hype: AI workloads don’t scale in a straight-forward, linear fashion: doubling the number of GPUs or increasing the size of a model will not always lead to proportionally better results. Experience has shown that as models grow in size, the performance gains actually may taper off or introduce new challenges, such as brittleness, hallucination, or the need for more careful fine-tuning.

In short

In short, the current AI boom is real, but it may not be boundless. Understanding the limitations of scale and the nonlinear nature of progress is crucial for policymakers, investors, and businesses alike as they plan for data center demand that is shaped by AI exponential growth.

The data center industry therefore stands at a pivotal crossroads. Far from buckling under the weight of AI tools and cloud-driven demand, however, it’s adapting at speed through smarter design, greener power, and more efficient hardware.

From modular builds in repurposed buildings to AI-optimized cooling systems and co-location with power plants, the future of data infrastructure will be leaner, more distributed, and strategically sited. As data becomes the world’s most valuable resource, the facilities that store, process, and protect it are becoming smarter, greener, and more essential than ever.

We list the best colocation providers.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Artificial Intelligence (AI)’s role in web hosting is set to redefine the tech industry over the next twelve months, but not in the way you might expect. While current AI web hosting tools are largely focused on front-end solutions like marketing features, such advancements only scratch the surface of what AI can really offer the industry. These AI tools automate basic tasks and provide quick fixes, making them popular, despite failing to address the real challenges.

The real potential of AI in web hosting lies in solving deeper, backend challenges that directly impact a website’s stability, performance and security. In this article, I’ll explore AI’s shift in web hosting from front-end features to backend solutions, that drive real improvements in these areas.

Why AI in web hosting is missing the mark

The race is on to adopt AI – the problem is, in a bid to win, some companies have taken shortcuts to the finish line, adopting only surface level integrations. Let’s take an AI customer chatbot for example. Yes, AI chatbots provide customers with an instance service and can improve customer satisfaction, however they’re rendered useless if your website takes fifteen seconds to load.

According to Cloudways’ research, 60% of UK online shoppers will abandon a purchase if a website takes too long to load or has minor errors, with 27% of shoppers facing such problems in the last 12-months. Customers are facing real problems with slow loading times, and complicated checkout processes.

By only focusing on flashy, front-end solutions, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) – which make up 99.8% of the UK business population – are missing a huge opportunity to improve the overarching website experience, fundamental to the customer.

How AI can be used to solve real challenges for SMBs

The majority of SMBs don’t have dedicated website experts; websites are instead managed by a member of the team as a bolt-on to their day job. This setup works fine—until something goes wrong. When issues arise, troubleshooting can take days or even weeks for complex problems, potentially impacting sales. On the other hand, AI can proactively detect, diagnose, resolve, and even prevent website issues from occurring with minimal human intervention.

Modern hosting environments must navigate complex challenges like database optimization, traffic spikes, security threats and bot activity. By leveraging AI-driven analytics and machine learning models, hosting providers can predict potential failures, automatically allocate resources, and mitigate risks before they impact performance. Integrating AI into the process can enable predictive maintenance, reducing server downtime by 30% or greater enhancing the reliability of web hosting services.

AI can also be integrated into intelligent monitoring systems, proactively detecting and resolving technical issues before they impact users. By analysing real-time data, AI can predict server strain, automatically scale resources, and optimize database performance, all without manual intervention. This ensures websites remain fast and reliable, even during high-demand events like product launches or ticket sales. AI tackles the behind-the-scenes challenges customers don’t see, but businesses spend hours trying to fix.

These examples of integrations aren’t flashy front-end solutions but solve real business challenges. They integrate AI to deliver customers with a seamless, reliable experience.

The human-AI partnership: the key to unlocking the future of web hosting

The future of successful web hosting will be shaped by the integration of AI and human expertise. In my opinion, AI should be used to enhance, not replace, human skills, with technical professionals still playing a key role in strategic decision-making and solving complex problems.

The human touch will always be essential for building relationships and understanding unique business needs.

With 80% of businesses in Europe expected to integrate AI-powered software by next year, SMBs will increasingly demand hosting solutions that simplify complexity through intelligent automation. The most successful businesses in the coming months will blend AI efficiency with human insight, allowing time and money to focus on growth and innovation while AI handles day-to-day operations. The industry is evolving from reactive problem-solving to predictive, proactive hosting management.

AI’s true potential in web hosting over the next twelve months lies in tackling fundamental technical challenges rather than just offering surface-level features. Businesses should focus on AI hosting capabilities that deliver measurable improvements in performance, security and reliability. The future of web hosting will be defined by providers who successfully blend AI automation with human expertise, ensuring both the technical side and customer relationships are prioritized.

Organizations should seek hosting partners who use AI to solve real business challenges, rather than simply following technology trends, ensuring they stay ahead in a competitive digital landscape.

We Compiled a list of the best website monitoring software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 30.

Kerik, an Army veteran, was hailed as a hero after the 9/11 attack and eventually nominated to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, before a dramatic fall from grace that ended with him behind bars.

(Image credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta)

One of the judges stepped down over criticism surrounding her participation in a documentary about the case. Seven health professionals are accused of negligence in the death of the soccer legend.

(Image credit: Gustavo Garello)

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" report cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not exist.

(Image credit: Jacquelyn Martin)

Previous winners say the spelling bee has become much more competitive and credit television with making it a cultural phenomenon each year.

(Image credit: PS Photography)

Google announces a photo editor redesign coming to both Android and iOS.

Playing FromSoftware's new multiplayer game might be a little challenging with Valve's portable console.

So you want to kill a Nightlord?

If you're having trouble finding a playstyle that works for you, maybe one of the hidden classes will help you clear your next expedition.

Make sure you're spending your Murk on items that actually strengthen your Nightfarer in Elden Ring Nightreign.

The decision makes it easier to win approval for highways, bridges, pipelines, wind farms, and other infrastructure projects.

(Image credit: Drew Angerer)

The World Meteorological Organization predicts that last year's record-setting temperatures have an 80% chance of happening again within the next five years.

The National Association of the Deaf says the White House's failure to provide ASL interpreters during press briefings leaves some deaf and hard of hearing people without information.

(Image credit: Jim Watson)