In this episode, Eric talks with Adam Jarvis, an Emergent Ventures fellow, about what happened when Anthropic held back the public release of its most powerful AI model, Mythos, and the US government then effectively banned non-US citizens from using the version it released instead, Fable. Adam argues that New Zealand is unusually well placed to host hyperscaler data centres, and that the binding constraint is not power or bandwidth but the country's inability to give investors a fast and certain answer. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform about growing concern over data centres, arguing that much of the worry is founded on not understanding the scale of industrial water use and on misunderstanding the effects on electricity networks. Dr Crampton said a data centre proposed for Southland could take water comparable to almost two golf courses, or about a quarter of the average Canterbury irrigation consent, and he argued that fast consenting of new generation, particularly geothermal, would let data centres fund a build out of electricity that reduces overall cost rather than increasing it. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Heather Du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB about the government's $60 million payment to keep Golden Bay Cement's Northland plant open, which he described as a one-off that leaves the underlying problem in the Emissions Trading Scheme unresolved. Dr Crampton argued the scheme's industrial allocations are poorly designed for cement, and that setting them properly, whether by allocating credits that track how carbon intensive production is overseas or by applying a carbon border charge on imports, would remove the need for payments like this one. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB about ACT's proposal for innovation trials, which would let the government temporarily suspend regulations to test new technology such as driverless cars, AI and drones. Dr Crampton supported the idea and said New Zealand should go beyond it by also recognising products already approved overseas, pointing to geothermal energy abundance and clinical trial abundance as promising areas to trial. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Wallace Chapman on RNZ's The Panel, with panellists Anna Dean and Conor English, about Labour's and National's rooftop solar policies. Dr Crampton said both parties are addressing a real financing barrier for households without mortgages, welcomed National's move to make rooftop solar permitted as of right given that regulatory costs have kept New Zealand's solar sector far smaller than Australia's, but cautioned that fiddly bits such as council liens taking priority over mortgages and safety rules for plug-in solar kits need to be got right. Read more