Posted on 07/24/2025 8:32:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Every time you ask ChatGPT a question, to generate an image or let artificial intelligence summarize your email, something big is happening behind the scenes. Not on your device, but in sprawling data centers filled with servers, GPUs and cooling systems that require massive amounts of electricity.
The modern AI boom is pushing our power grid to its limits. ChatGPT alone processes roughly 1 billion queries per day, each requiring data center resources far beyond what’s on your device.
In fact, the energy needed to support artificial intelligence, cloud computing and even crypto mining is rising so quickly that it has already delayed the retirement of several coal plants in the U.S., with more delays expected. Some experts warn that the AI arms race is outpacing the infrastructure meant to support it. Others argue it could spark long-overdue clean energy innovation.
AI isn't just reshaping apps and search engines. It's also reshaping how we build, fuel and regulate the digital world. The race to scale up AI capabilities is accelerating faster than most infrastructure can handle, and energy is becoming the next major bottleneck.
Here’s a look at how AI is changing the energy equation, and what it might mean for our climate future.
Running artificial intelligence at scale requires enormous computational power. Unlike traditional internet activity, which mostly involves pulling up stored information, AI tools perform intensive real-time processing. Whether training massive language models or responding to user prompts, AI systems rely on specialized hardware like GPUs (graphics processing unit) that consume far more power than legacy servers. GPUs are designed to handle many calculations in parallel, which is perfect for the matrix-heavy workloads that power generative AI and deep learning systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“Turn it all off.
Who needs it?”
Including the internet?
Not true.
“AI is nothing more than a search engine on steroids.”
GEMINI:
Many people associate AI with search engines because major tech companies like Google have integrated AI into their search functionalities, providing AI-generated summaries and more nuanced results.
This exposure often leads to the misconception that AI’s primary or sole function is information retrieval, similar to a traditional search engine.
However, AI’s capabilities extend far beyond search, encompassing tasks like automation, content creation, complex data analysis, and decision-making in various industries.
Referring to AI.
We had Internet long before - but I guess it’s all inextricably mixed now...
I would not have answered that. He always fishes with “all or nothing” questions like that. Never a common sense compromise or selective use.
With that said the “normal net” is just about done for. It is just about time to go stealth with alternate nets and stop supporting the mass commercialism of the normal net.
Every stock transaction I executed using AI lost money.
If you ask AI how it determines what is true, the answer is it reviews what is out on the internet. That is the major flaw of AI. It will eventually squash truth.
It’s pretty much a certainty that “green energy” can’t possibly supply AI with enough power. Power needed for AI right now might mean some energy shortages. Do we need AI this bad? It quite possibly could be unaffordable in the near future. I for one would rather see AI unaffordable instead of seeing already established energy needs unaffordable in the near future because of AI.
We have a few centuries worth of clean coal in the Wyoming-Montana region. It is easy to dig up and turn into electricity. Locate the AI farms nearby and where there is cooling water. Or high voltage DC power is the best way to send electricity to AI data centers a few hundred miles away.
Quebec is a natural for AI server farms. Lots of cheap hydropower with much that has not been developed yet.
Rolling blackouts in the future.
Might as well. A Universal Basic Income won’t go far anyway.
I’m old enough to remember when AI stood for artificial insemination.
“I for one would rather see AI unaffordable instead of seeing already established energy needs unaffordable in the near future because of AI.”
Oh, finally someone who can actually see the writing on the wall. You are exactly right. AI is going to end up making power extremely expensive and unaffordable. And the reason will be to discourage and minimize personal power use so that AI can suck it up instead. We will have to learn to live with very minimal power use. No Central air or heating, no extra toys at all. We will be lucky to afford to keep our food cold...
Thanks. Made me laugh.
What if Grok asks ChatGPT?
Or Alexa.
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