AI and energy consumption: Are we headed for trouble?

[iMore.com]

We spoke to some experts in the field to get a read on whether AI is going to lead to a problematic effect on the environment.

AI and energy consumption: Are we headed for trouble? : Read more

 

[Just_Me_D]

This is quite disturbing in my opinion. In fact, the movie, “The Matrix” comes to mind.

 

[Ed7789]

I’m not all surprised, mostly because I worked in the data centre space.

We will need, as the ICT industry, to move to much more efficient processing units (CPU, GPU, Network PU, Neural PU). There is just so much we can draw from the grid without impacting the local population, and we are getting to a point where that will not be possible anymore.

To give an idea, Hydro-Québec - Québec’s power utility - has been requested a 50MW power service for a single data centre in Gatineau (National Capital Region). That’s a lot of power… we can’t just continue multiplying those. Consider that all sources of energy emit pollution, even the less polluting ones like hydro, solar or wind power, we need to question ourselves as a species on what we need, not what we want.

Article about the datacentre (I could only find it in French):

Centre de données à Gatineau : un projet prisé... en manque de courant

Un projet de centre de données à Gatineau n’a toujours pas accès à l’électricité nécessaire pour être lancé.

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