New York power line hits snags as US weighs Chinese AI sanctions

During a heat wave on July 3, New York State’s grid imported Canadian electricity equal to about 9% of its total demand. Some of that power traveled on a 339-mile underground transmission line from Quebec to Queens that opened in May and is described as the longest underground transmission line in North America. The project could supply up to 20% of New York City’s electricity demand, largely from Quebec hydropower.

The line has been down for most of this month, and experts are raising concerns about how drought could affect the power supply behind it. Despite the setbacks, the project is being watched as a potential model for reshaping the grid through long-distance clean-energy transmission.

In AI, the US Treasury is threatening sanctions against Chinese AI companies, with Treasury secretary Scott Bessent accusing Moonshot of improperly distilling Anthropic’s Fable model. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is pushing back on fears about Chinese AI, while other reporting notes that Chinese models are already embedded in global AI infrastructure.

Other technology developments include alarm over an OpenAI hack on Hugging Face, a European implant that can restore sight for visually impaired people, dropped litigation against Meta over social media addiction, scrutiny of ICE access to Americans’ data, and growing calls to address AI’s environmental impact.