Subramanya will lead critical areas, including Apple Foundation Models, ML research and will report to software chief Craig Federighi [File]
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FILE PHOTO:ByteDance said it is launching an AI voice control tool that will debut on a smartphone made by ZTE Corp.
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Australia’s under-16 social media ban will make the nation a real-life laboratory on how best to tackle the technology’s impact on young people, experts say.

Those in favour of the world-first December 10 ban point to a growing mass of studies that suggest too much time online takes a toll on teen wellbeing.

But opponents argue there is not enough hard proof to warrant the new legislation, which could do more harm than good.

Adolescent brains are still developing into the early 20s, said psychologist Amy Orben, who leads a digital mental health programme at the University of Cambridge.

A “huge amount” of observational research, often based on surveys, has tracked a correlation between teen tech use and worse mental health, she told AFP.

But it is hard to draw firm conclusions, because phones are so ingrained into daily life, and young people may turn to social media because they are already suffering.

“With technology, because it’s changing so fast, the evidence base will always be uncertain,” Orben said.

“What could change the dial are experimental studies or evaluations of natural experiments. So evaluating the Australia ban is hugely important because it actually gives us a window on what might be happening.”

To try and shed light on the cause-and-effect relationship, Australian researchers are recruiting 13- to 16-year-olds for a “Connected Minds Study” to assess how the ban affects their wellbeing.

A World Health Organization survey last year found that 11 percent of adolescents struggled to control their use of social media.

Other research has shown a link between excessive social media use and poor sleep, body image, school performance and emotional distress, such as a 2019 study of US schoolchildren in JAMA Psychiatry that found those who spent over three hours a day on social media could be at heightened risk for mental health problems.

So some experts argue the right time to act is now.

“I actually don’t think this is a science issue. This is a values issue,” said Christian Heim, an Australian psychiatrist and clinical director of mental health.

“We’re talking about things like cyberbullying, the risk of suicide, accessing sites on anorexia nervosa and self-harm,” he told AFP.

Evidence of a risk is growing, Heim said, pointing to a 2018 study by neuroscientist Christian Montag that linked addiction to the Chinese messaging app WeChat to shrinking grey matter volume in part of the brain.

“We can’t wait for stronger evidence,” Heim said.

Scott Griffiths of the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences said a “smoking gun research study” was unlikely to emerge soon to prove the harms of social media.

But the ban was worth trying, he said.

“I’m hopeful that the major social media companies seeing this full-throated legislative action come into play will finally be motivated to more meaningfully protect the health and wellbeing of young people.”

More than three-quarters of Australian adults agreed with the new legislation before it passed, a poll indicated.

However, an open letter signed by more than 140 academics, campaigners and other experts cautioned that a ban would be “too blunt an instrument”.

“People were saying: ‘Well, kids are getting more anxious. There must be a reason: let’s ban social media’,” argued one signatory, Axel Bruns, a digital media professor at Queensland University of Technology.

Children may simply have more reasons to be anxious, under pressure from pandemic-interrupted schooling and troubled by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, he told AFP.

And a ban might push some teens to more extreme, fringe sites, while preventing other marginalised young people from finding community.

Noelle Martin, an activist focused on image-based online abuse and deepfakes, feared the Australian ban would do little to help, given the country’s history on enforcement of existing laws.

“I don’t believe it will stop, prevent or do much to meaningfully combat this issue,” Martin said.

In any case, the political decision has been taken in Australia.

“Social media is doing social harm to our children,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this year. “There is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms, so I’m calling time on it.”

Published – December 02, 2025 10:30 am IST

Apple argued it risks facing a fine of up to $38 billion after it was found to have breached laws [File]
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Synopsys software is widely used in designing everything from computer chips to jet engines [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

FILE PHOTO: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees he was declaring a “code red” to improve ChatGPT and is planning to delay other initiatives, such as advertising.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The residents came in camouflage hats and red shirts signaling unity, more than 300 of them packing into a rural Pennsylvania planning commission meeting to protest a proposed data centre they feared would carve up their farmland and upend the quiet rhythms of their valley.

Most were loyal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, who carried their home of Montour County by 20 percentage points in the 2024 election. But they bristled at Washington’s push to fast-track artificial intelligence infrastructure, which has driven data-centre growth in rural areas around the U.S. where land is cheap.

On a recent November evening, residents in this county of 18,000 people stepped to the microphone, questioning Talen Energy officials about how their planned data centre might raise residents’ utility bills, reduce working farmland, and strain local water and natural resources.

“Say no to rezoning, so water keeps flowing and crops keep growing,” two women sang in a riff on Woody Guthrie’s folk song “This Land Is Your Land.”

Political leaders across the U.S. are urging a rapid expansion of data-centre capacity and new power production to keep the country competitive in AI. Trump, a Republican, is promoting the build-out as an economic and national security priority and has directed his administration to bypass environmental rules and permitting that give local communities a voice. In Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Republican Senator Dave McCormick are courting developers with incentives and infrastructure upgrades to attract investment in the fast-growing industry.

Some communities welcome the economic boost. But the backlash in Montour County, nestled in central Pennsylvania, reflects a growing coalition of farmers, environmentalists and homeowners who have united across partisan lines to resist data-centre expansion.

A report by Data Center Watch earlier this year found that about $64 billion worth of data centre projects have been blocked or delayed amid local pushback in states including Texas, Oregon and Tennessee. Critics in Pennsylvania worry that their region could turn into northern Virginia’s “data center alley,” with its vast, sprawling complexes.

If successful, the pushback threatens to slow efforts by the administration and the tech industry to build AI infrastructure fast enough to keep pace with global rivals. Political strategists say anger over the projects also could add to the problems Republicans face as they grapple with affordability worries going into the 2026 midterm elections.

“It’s an issue that can be exploited by whoever’s out of power,” said Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The politics of AI infrastructure, he added, remain unsettled: “The industry’s still evolving, and politicians are figuring out where to stand. It’s like social media — everyone rushed in before understanding the consequences.”

Talen Energy is requesting to rezone roughly 1,300 acres in Montour County from agricultural to industrial use, the first step toward building a large data centre that would include 12 to 15 buildings. The site would sit in the shadow of the company’s 1,528-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant, tucked among farmland and dirt roads used heavily by the region’s Amish community.

Talen Energy has said the project would take 350 acres of farmland supporting soybeans, corn and livestock. Residents worry that losing this land would weaken the local farm economy, including a nearby plant that processes soybeans for regional food and feed.

Montour County Commissioner Rebecca Dressler, a Republican, said the concerns are rooted less in ideology than in preserving the region’s character. “Small-town character defines our community,” Dressler said. “People aren’t anti-development – they just want growth that fits who we are.”

At its recent November meeting, the county planning commission recommended against approving the rezoning by a 6-1 vote; a decision that drew thunderous applause. The issue now goes to Dressler and the other two county commissioners for a final decision in mid-December.

Rather than blaming Trump, residents are pointing their fingers at the billion-dollar companies behind the data-centre boom; firms they say have the money to snap up farmland, reshape rural landscapes and leave locals to absorb the higher utility costs.

“I think it’s a society that has forgotten about the small person – the people who live here, the farmers who are struggling with the economy,” said Theresa McCollum, a 70-year-old Trump supporter.

In a place that prides itself on local control, the shift in power to Washington does not sit well.

“Stay out. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation without federal involvement,” said Craig High, 39, also a Trump supporter. “Both (political) parties are pushing data centers and giving regulatory relief — water permits, permitting, all of it.”

Pennsylvania’s abundant, stable electricity has made it a hot spot for data centres, attracting tens of billions in investments from Amazon.com, Alphabet’s Google, and Microsoft, with Constellation Energy even eying the old Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to power new server farms.

But residents fear they may end up paying for it.

Pennsylvania utilities project a sharp rise in electricity demand from data centres by the end of the decade – enough to power several million additional homes, according to data from PJM Interconnection, the region’s grid operator.

Electricity prices in Pennsylvania increased by about 15% in the past year – roughly double the national average, according to federal data. That surge is already rippling through the regional grid. Capacity prices, which help determine what power plants are paid to ensure supply during peak demand, have spiked in recent auctions, and utilities have begun raising rates to cover growing infrastructure needs.

Analysts warn that customers’ bills could climb significantly in the years ahead.

For many families, the strain is already visible. Overdue utility balances have risen far faster than inflation since 2022, and Pennsylvania ranks among the states with the highest levels of household energy debt, according to the Century Foundation, a progressive research organization.

Those pocketbook pressures are starting to reshape politics in some parts of the United States. Earlier this year, Alicia Johnson became one of two Democrats elected to Georgia’s utility board since 2007 after her campaign highlighted frustration over rising power bills and unchecked growth of data centres. She said the issues in her campaign were a preview of what states like Pennsylvania may face in next year’s U.S. midterm elections. Power prices have surged in Georgia in recent years, in large part because of massive cost overruns at the new Vogtle nuclear plant.

“Data centers and utility costs were the top two issues on the ballot, and people are angry,” Johnson said. “They don’t want data centers without guardrails, and they don’t want to be the ones paying for them. This is going to be part of the national affordability debate in 2026.”

Ginny Marcille-Kerslake, an organizer with Food and Water Watch, an environmental nonprofit group, has spent months mobilizing opposition to data centres in places like Montour County. She predicted a political reckoning next year.

“Communities – red, blue, and everything in between – are united in opposition,” she said, referring to so-called red areas dominated by Republicans and blue areas controlled by Democrats. “At a time when we’re so divided, this issue is bringing people together.”