PALO ALTO — By Matt Ress, AI Bee Reel Staff

January 14, 2026

REDMOND, WA — Microsoft officially launched its new cost-saving power initiative today. To keep promises about stable bills, a Microsoft executive was seen smiling broadly while plugging a city-sized orange extension cord into a neighbor’s porch outlet, giving a thumbs up as the neighbor’s lights dimmed to brownout levels.

“We promised to be a ‘good neighbor’ while building AI infrastructure,” said Linda Zhang, VP of Community Synergy, patting the smoking outlet. “Technically, your electricity bill is not going up because we are not plugging it into your house. We are plugging it into the house next door. That is the definition of community support.”

“It is just efficient sharing,” explained Marcus Sterling, Director of Grid Optimization, while watching a squirrel catch fire on the thick cable. “We noticed Mrs. Higgins was not using her porch light at noon. So we took that power to help ChatGPT write poetry. She barely noticed when her fridge stopped humming for six hours.”

At press time, the executive team was seen connecting a dozen garden hoses to the neighbor’s spigot to cool the server farm.

Inspired by actual events.