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tech futures.Introduction to AI

Lesson 6: Behind the Scenes

How do AI prompts get to data centres?

Your prompt is converted into pulses of light and fired through a fibre optic cable.

This is a cable thinner than human hair that carries data as flashes of light rather than electricity, making it incredibly fast.

Fibre Optic Cable by Denny Müller on Unsplash

These cables run along the ocean floor, connecting countries at incredible speed.

They come ashore at buildings called landing stations before travelling underground to reach a data centre.

Source: BBC News