AI has become the cynosure of all developments and there are high environmental concerns over the same.
AI, its Energy Drain, Its Implications
As per the reports, alone ChatGPT consumes over half a million kilowatt-hours daily in order for it to respond to about 200 million user requests daily. This is more than 17 thousand times the average daily energy usage of a US household.
With further proliferation and adoption, the numbers could escalate and the energy drain could aggravate.
As per the data scientist Alex de Vries, if Google integrated generative AI into every search, it could consume around 29 billion kilowatt-hours annually, which would surpass the yearly electricity consumption of entire countries like Kenya, Guatemala, and Croatia.
He highlighted that the AI is energy-intensive, and currently each AI server could already consume as much power as over a dozen UK households combined. It is particularly difficult to estimate the overall electricity consumption of the AI industry is due to variability in model operations as well as lack of transparency from Big Tech companies driving the AI boom.
Data from Nvidia says that by 2027, the entire AI sector could consume between 85 to 134 terawatt-hours annually. This would mean a significant portion of global electricity consumption, which could eventually reach to half a per cent by 2027.
Balancing Innovation and Sustainability
On the similar lines, even world’s most electricity-intensive businesses fall short when it comes to consumption that AI does.
Talking about the numbers, Samsung consumes close to 23 terawatt-hours, whereas the likes of Google and Microsoft already consume 12 and 10 terawatt-hours respectively to power their data centres, networks as well as user devices.
With AI expansion, the numbers could furthermore increase and skyrocket, hence it is time that the energy consumption is addressed in order to mitigate environmental impacts.
It is also crucial to develop more energy-efficient AI algorithms and hardware are to balance technological advancement with sustainability goals.
