Microsoft announced Monday that it will invest 33.7 billion kroner ($3.2 billion) over two years in cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Sweden, its largest investment in the country.
The group will train 250,000 people by 2027 to boost AI knowledge and skills and also increase capacity at its three data centers in the country, it said.
“Microsoft’s largest investment in our history in Sweden” will allow the Scandinavian country “to build a world-leading AI data center infrastructure,” company president and vice president Brad Smith said at a news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
“A big part of the reason we can do this is because of Sweden’s progressive energy policy, abundant access to green energy, whether it’s carbon-free energy or renewable energy,” Smith said.
The US conglomerate has in recent months announced similar AI investments in other countries, including France where it pledged to invest four billion euros ($4.3 billion), Japan where it announced a $2.9 billion AI push, and Indonesia and Malaysia.
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In Sweden, Microsoft will provide more than 20,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), needed to train artificial intelligence models, and boost capacity at its data centers in Sandviken, Gavle and Staffanstorp.
“AI is a catalyst for many things,” Kristersson said. “It will also help accelerate growth in other areas. This huge investment in Sweden has the potential to pave the way for other investments.”
Data centers, which hold and store vast amounts of data, require large amounts of electricity and water, accounting for about 2% of global electricity consumption, according to a study by the HEC Montreal business school.
In 2020, Microsoft said it aimed to become “carbon negative” by 2030, but in 2023 its emissions increased by 30%, according to its figures.
“Rise of Russian deepfakes”
Asked about AI-related risks and abuses, Smith said Microsoft monitors AI-generated deepfakes “very closely.”
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“Our biggest concern, to be honest, is with the Russian government,” he said. “We have seen an increase in Russian activity using deepfakes.”
“This is the kind of risk to the future that we need to address and protect against, and that will require more work.”
He said it would require governments to introduce new legislation, as well as new technology capabilities.
“Basically, it requires the use of artificial intelligence to defend against abuses that others promote with artificial intelligence,” Smith said.
AI technology, which is expected to transform almost every aspect of human life in the coming years, took a giant leap forward with the 2022 launch of the ChatGPT generator, which can generate text, images and audio files on demand.
Source: AFP