Should we be worried about AI’s growing energy use?
The expanding use of large AI models demands huge numbers of powerful servers, which could end up consuming as much energy as whole countries
By Matthew Sparkes
10 October 2023
Most AIs are run on servers made by Nvidia, which are packed with power-hungry GPU chips
Associated Press / Alamy
Amid the many debates about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, some researchers argue that an important concern is being overlooked: the energy used by computers to train and run large AI models.
Alex de Vries at the VU Amsterdam School of Business and Economics warns that AI’s growth is poised to make it a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. He estimates that if Google switched its whole search business to AI, it would end up using 29.3 terawatt hours per year – equivalent to the electricity consumption of Ireland, and almost double the company’s total energy consumption of 15.4 terawatt hours in 2020. Google didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On one hand, there is good reason not to panic. Making that sort of switch is practically impossible, as it would require more than 4 million powerful computer chips known as graphics processing units (GPUs) that are currently in huge demand, with limited supply. This would cost $100 billion, which even Google’s deep pockets would struggle to fund.
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On the other hand, in time, AI’s energy consumption will present a genuine problem. Nvidia, which sells 95 per cent of the GPUs used for AI, will ship 100,000 of its A100 servers this year, which can collectively consume 5.7 terrawatt hours a year.
Things could, and probably will, get much worse in time as new manufacturing plants come online and dramatically increase production capacity. Chip maker TSMC, which supplies Nvidia, is investing in new factories that could provide 1.5 million servers a year by 2027, and all that hardware could consume 85.4 terawatt hours of energy a year, says de Vries.
With businesses rushing to integrate AI into all sorts of products, Nvidia will probably have no problem clearing its stock. But de Vries says it is important for AI to be used sparingly, given its high environmental cost.
