Analysis: AI's energy consumption is exploding, with data centers' electricity use doubling from 2017 to 2023, accounting for 4.4% of all US energy consumption
The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn't tracking and consider where it's heading next.
MIT Technology Review
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Discussion
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@emollick
Ethan Mollick
on bluesky
This is a good overview of AI power use (small at individual level, big in aggregate). — One thing that struck me: they tested LLama 3.1 405B and it averaged 3,353 joules per prompt. That is the equivalent of 2 minutes 50 seconds of human brain activity. www.technologyreview.c…
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@davidgerard.co.uk
@davidgerard.co.uk
on bluesky
i really wanted someone to deep dive and get good numbers on AI power consumption and they've done their best but they also wrote it up incomprehensibly www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/ 1... inverted pyramid mf do you speak it — or at least write an abstract
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@caseycrownhart
Casey Crownhart
on bluesky
We're all talking about AI and energy demand, but there's still a lot of question marks. So @jamesmodonnell.bsky.social and I got together and did some math. — After six months of reporting, we found that AI's energy demand is anything but constant, and the common understandin…
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@helenczerski
Helen Czerski
on bluesky
A chunky article out today on the energy costs of AI: www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/ 1... tl:dr The problem isn't really now but the future - massive & rapid expansion is almost inevitable. And the bigger problem is tech companies are keeping the real (& likely gigantic) …
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@niallfirth
Niall Firth
on bluesky
So excited to announce the launch of Power Hungry: our special report all about AI and our climate future. It comes in multiple parts but first read the centerpiece: this one-of-a-kind investigation into the energy costs of generative AI queries. www.technologyreview.com/2025/05…
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@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
Gerry McGovern
on mastodon
“By 2028 more than half of the electricity going to data centers will be used for AI. At that point, AI alone could consume as much electricity annually as 22% of all US households.” — “Companies building and deploying AI models are largely quiet when it comes to answering a c…
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@DrPen@mastodon.social
Dr Pen
on mastodon
“Given the direction AI is headed... everywhere we look—it's likely that our AI footprint today is the smallest it will ever be. According to new projections published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in December, by 2028 more than half of the electricity going to data c…
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r/TrueReddit
r
on reddit
We did the math on AI's energy footprint. Here's the story you haven't heard.
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r/climate
r
on reddit
We did the math on AI's energy footprint. Here's the story you haven't heard.
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r/ChatGPT
r
on reddit
We did the math on AI's energy footprint. Here's the story you haven't heard.
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r/technews
r
on reddit
We did the math on AI's energy footprint. Here's the story you haven't heard.