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AI’s energy use is set to rocket. That could not only constrain the industry’s growth, but threaten green energy targets and force AI providers to consider alternative sources of power. The International Energy Agency estimates global power demand from data centres, AI, and cryptocurrencies could double by 2026, compared to 2022 levels. Microsoft alone is opening a new data centre globally every three days.
The computational power required to develop machine-learning models has doubled every five to six months since 2010. In March, billionaire Elon Musk said the latest bottleneck to cutting-edge AI technology was electricity supply. Amazon chief Andy Jassy said earlier this year that there was not enough energy right now to run new generative AI services. Also, many customers of these data centres have made net zero CO2 commitments, but renewable sources of energy may not be able to cope with the load and reliability of supply …