Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He\u2019s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he\u2019s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jowi Morales Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
COLGeek Bots and bot farms injecting comments on any given subject are not a new thing. I would submit that the vast majority of folks' opinions are not informed (or even aware) of these bot activities and their own opinions are already fully formed in support/opposition of "pick your topic". Bots can certainly contribute to "algorithmic ignorance/injection", thus getting the attention of eyeballs in various feeds. For those addicted to their feeds, I suspect bots are a fairly insignificant factor to worsening their own ill-informed opinions. People don't really need bots to make them less well informed. Reply
Tanakoi COLGeek said: I suspect bots are a fairly insignificant factor.. People don't really need bots to make them less well informed. I recall quite a few people claiming Russian social media bots were capable of influencing US elections. Re: this story, it's no surprise that China is attempting to gain the lead in AI — *the* transformative industry of the 21st Century. What's surprising is how many Americans are assisting them in the process. Reply
COLGeek Tanakoi said: I recall quite a few people claiming Russian social media bots were capable of influencing US elections. Regarding this particular story, it's no surprise that China is attempting to gain the lead in AI — *the* transformative industry of the 21st Century. What's surprising is how many Americans are assisting them in the process. As stated earlier, not new and the effectiveness is highly debatable. Personally (from my former professional life), I think we put far too much stock in the adversarial role with China. They have as much sovereign right to strengthen their hand as any other nation. In terms of AI, while they are making strides, I would argue they are still well behind the US and likely to stay there. I base this opinion on current numbers and projections from various sources, not "news" headlines and especially not other un-vetted sources (as much of the current hysteria is based on). Still, time will tell how all this unfolds. Reply
Tanakoi COLGeek said: Personally (from my former professional life), I think we put far too much stock in the adversarial role with China. They have as much sovereign right to strengthen their hand as any other nation. They may have a sovereign right to keep three million of their own people in slave-labor genocide camps (according to the UN Human Rights commission) and a right to employ an army of two million people to censor what you can and cannot see on or post to the Internet. They do not, however, have a sovereign right to annex Taiwan, nor to steal IP and use government subsidization of industries to undercut global competition to attempt to gain a stranglehold on every industry critical to national defense. COLGeek said: In terms of AI, while they are making strides, I would argue they are still well behind the US … I base this opinion on current numbers and projections from various sources Sure, you are quite correct. Let's all work to keep it that way. We can't run large AI models without datacenters to run them in. And AI aside, I'd rather my emails and cloud databases are based out of Virginia or Texas, rather than Beijing. Reply
PEnns How ironic. The guy who bought X / Twitter complained about the number of bots before he bought it …. and promised to clean up the place… "Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy," Now this really smells like a false-flag operation + statement in support thereof!!! It is aimed to help the AI industry gain acceptance among the resistance of the "hostile" natives. Don't forget that the X owner is also very much into building those "innocent and beleaguered" AI centers and has a VERY big axe to grind in this matter! Reply
usertests PEnns said: "Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy," Now this really smells like a false-flag operation + statement in support thereof!!! It is aimed to help the AI industry gain acceptance among the resistance of the "hostile" natives. https://archive.ph/yAvgzhttps://alethea.com/insights/how-state-actors-and-ai-slop-are-amplifying-data-center-revolthttps://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-in-the-campaign-against-american-aihttps://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/foreign-influence-campaign-against-american-ai-part-ii-singham-ground-game Reply
COLGeek Tanakoi said: They may have a sovereign right to keep three million of their own people in slave-labor genocide camps (according to the UN Human Rights commission) and a right to employ an army of two million people to censor what you can and cannot see on or post to the Internet. They do not, however, have a sovereign right to annex Taiwan, nor to steal IP and use government subsidization of industries to undercut global competition to attempt to gain a stranglehold on every industry critical to national defense. Sure, you are quite correct. Let's all work to keep it that way. We can't run large AI models without datacenters to run them in. And AI aside, I'd rather my emails and cloud databases are based out of Virginia or Texas, rather than Beijing. True, China has to do do China in their way, including suffering the consequences of their decisions. Like any other nation. I am not defending how/why they do things, just pointing out they have the same right to improve their position like others do. It is only natural to do so. The location of cloud data centers, I think, is far less meaningful than assumed in terms of how they are used by users and others, just sort of the nature of the beast. Reply
Trake_17 Anyone else familiar with Grok and xAI? Perhaps you've also heard of its owner, Elon Musk, who also owns X and believes he and AI are the next coming of Christ? You think a 200k bot farm (if it's even real) influence campaign is the bogeyman in this scenario? Reply
Trake_17 COLGeek said: True, China has to do do China in their way, including suffering the consequences of their decisions. Like any other nation. I am not defending how/why they do things, just pointing out they have the same right to improve their position like others do. It is only natural to do so. The location of cloud data centers, I think, is far less meaningful than assumed in terms of how they are used by users and others, just sort of the nature of the beast. People dislike the data center movement for a lot more reasons than just space and electrical grid strain. Reply
COLGeek Trake_17 said: People dislike the data center movement for a lot more reasons than just space and electrical grid strain. Agreed. It is a far more complex issue than headlines and sound bites make out. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/policy/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/policy/x-busts-200-000-strong-chinese-bot-farm-including-accounts-making-claims-about-ai-data-centers-and-electricity-suspect-accounts-posted-claims-about-pricing-and-grid-strain-to-manipulate-debate#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
- EPA faces lawsuit over claims it fast-tracked approval of toxic 'data center chemicals' — exposure to photoacid generators used for semiconductor manufacturing
- Hot Chips 2026: OpenAI's Jalapeño AI ASIC unpacked — accelerator developed using AI achieves efficiency and throughput gains against power-hungry Blackwell
- NVIDIA NVLink Fusion Expands With NVHBM Custom High-Bandwidth Memory
- Google clamps down on Android app RAM usage amid AI memory crisis — developers have until February 2027 to adapt to new memory-optimizing rules
- Save a ridiculous 76% on this 7-in-1 Hyper Dual Monitor Thunderbolt 4 Dock — just $24 buys a dual 4K60Hz HyperDrive docking station for pennies on the dollar
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.