Why Google Wants to Put Data Centers in Space | EP 162

Video Description

This week, we talk about Google’s new plan to build data centers in space. Then, we’re joined by Dean Ball, a former adviser at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Ball worked on the Trump administration’s A.I. Action Plan, and he shares his inside view on how those policies came together. Finally, Professor Mark Humphries joins us to talk about a strange Gemini model that offered mind-blowing results on a challenging research problem. For more on this episode, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/podcasts/hardfork-data-center-space.html Guests: Dean Ball, senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and former White House senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence and emerging technology Mark Humphries, professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier University Additional Reading: Towards a Future Space-Based, Highly Scalable A.I. Infrastructure System Design https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/suncatcher_paper.pdf What It’s Like to Work at the White House https://www.hyperdimensional.co/p/what-its-like-to-work-at-the-white Has Google Quietly Solved Two of A.I.’s Oldest Problems? https://generativehistory.substack.com/p/has-google-quietly-solved-two-of Chapters: 00:00:00 - Coming up 00:00:37 - Casey's photo opp flop 00:01:43 - This week on the show 00:02:21 - The government's Signal group chat 00:17:48 - Interview with former White House adviser Dean Ball 00:48:53 - A history mystery with professor Mark Humphries Hard Fork is a weekly look into the future that's already here. Hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore stories from the bleeding edge of tech. Casey’s publication, Platformer: https://www.platformer.news/ FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hardfork Insta: Kevin Roose - https://www.instagram.com/kevinroose/ Casey Newton - https://www.instagram.com/crumbler/ Twitter (X): Kevin - https://x.com/kevinroose Casey - https://x.com/CaseyNewton Threads: Kevin - https://www.threads.net/@kevinroose Casey - https://www.threads.net/@crumbler Subscribe to the audio only podcast: Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hard-fork/id1528594034 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/44fllCS2FTFr2x2kjP9xeT?si=86ba626802b849cd Amazon - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7c7fe198-e6a8-41a8-b0fe-1d46b976dcd8/hard-fork YouTube Music - https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9gMmtMLXxsa8C0PzHFL2tJFh7FrKrYD&si=Fwb9Uwon1ZneNsBp The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork Credits Hard Fork is produced by Rachel Cohn and Whitney Jones, edited by Jen Poyant, fact checked by Will Peischel and engineered by Chris Wood. Original music by Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sophia Lanman, Diane Wong, Pat McCusker, Rowan Niemisto, Leah Shaw Dameron, Alyssa Moxley, and Dan Powell. Video production by Chris Schodt, Jake Nicol, and Sawyer Roque. Video QC by Isabella Anderson. Podcast Art Direction by Benjamin Wilkerson Tousley. Podcast Art & Animations by Julian Hespenheide. Additional Motion graphics by Phil Robibero. Thumbnails by Julia Moburg, Elizabeth Bristow, and Yvonne Stender. Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Pui-Wing Tam, Dahlia Haddad, and Jeffrey Miranda.