AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are simply insatiable when it comes to their thirst for electrical energy… The more data they collect, the smarter they become, but the more data they gather to become smarter, the more energy they need… If something doesn’t change, by the end of the decade, AI data centers could consume up to 20% to 25% of the energy demands in the US. Today, it’s about 4%…
A recent comment by a CEO of a related sector in the Wall Street Journal. It doesn’t seem very smart this thing with the complex algorithms that are abusively and misleadingly called “artificial intelligence”… does it? Users of it (who are the active feeders of data) may consider that they benefit individually from the very fast processing / handling of the collected data; some may still argue that there is also a general, social benefit (for example, how it kills the godforsaken, apartheid regime in Gaza and Lebanon…). But one thing is certain: these increasingly monstrous data centers and thousands of servers with fast processors need unlimited amounts of electricity to operate 24 hours a day; and unlimited amounts of water to cool down.
The energy poverty of ordinary citizens is the flip side. When, for example, the Greek government boasts about the “investments” of various giants in data centers in our areas (some still on paper…), it avoids like the devil the link between these “investments” and the trap of colored pricing and the rapid increase in electricity prices for the plebeians. But as every wise neoliberal would say, “to appreciate it – and to save – you have to pay for it dearly.” To save, since the large quantities (of a given production) are needed by others.
Anyway, in capitalism there are no dead ends! These big data owners (and of complex algorithms) are planning to build “small nuclear power plants” for their electricity needs! In the foreseeable future, one will not be enough; at some point, a second and a third will be needed…
Let’s finish with the so-called concerns about “climate change”!! Capitalist “progress” needs sacrifices! And these are all destined for us…