IT IS a strange coincidence that as humanity attempts to slash its carbon emissions, it is also rushing to develop a technology that could, in theory, consume an unlimited amount of energy.
Dabbling in counterfactuals is a dangerous game, but you can picture a world in which, having chosen to start tackling climate change properly in the 1990s, we would be just wrapping up the gentle path to net-zero emissions in time for an artificial intelligence boom fuelled by green power. Instead, we find ourselves at risk of running a 21st-century technology on a 20th-century energy supply.
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If you live in the US, every time you use an AI model, around . The explosive growth of AI makes this an even more pressing concern. According to one analysis, if Google chose to shift to an entirely AI-powered search business, its electricity consumption could rival that of some countries (see 鈥淪hould we be worried about AI鈥檚 growing energy use?鈥�).
Such estimates may be overblown, but evidence of rising power consumption from AI is all around. Microsoft is , while the Chinese government has pledged to boost its national computing capacity by 50 per cent by 2025, which would help it keep pace with rapid AI developments in the US.
Thankfully, we may soon reach a turning point. As we report on in 鈥淕lobal power sector has almost hit peak greenhouse gas emissions鈥�, this year the global power sector came tantalisingly close to reaching peak greenhouse gas emissions, as the switch from fossil fuels to clean and renewable sources is well underway. The question now is whether we can quicken the pace of decarbonisation to match the coming growth in energy consumption as AI becomes increasingly embedded in our society. Silicon Valley鈥檚 intelligent machines may grab the headlines and the imagination, but the people really inventing the future are working in the energy sector.
