Sam Altman gets defensive about AI’s massive electricity usage: ‘It takes a lot of energy to train a human’ | Fortune
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defended AI's energy use by comparing it to the massive energy required to train a human.Summary
During an interview at the India AI Impact summit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed concerns over AI's resource consumption, dismissing claims about ChatGPT's water usage as "totally insane" due to shifts away from water-heavy cooling methods. While acknowledging the need for rapid transition to nuclear, wind, or solar energy for AI's power requirements, Altman controversially defended the energy scale by stating, "It takes a lot of energy to train a human," requiring 20 years of life and sustenance. He argued that when comparing energy efficiency on a per-query basis after training, AI has likely already matched human efficiency. Despite these defenses, experts warn that overall AI power and water consumption will increase significantly, with projections showing a 130% rise in water usage by 2050, driven partly by manufacturing complex chips.
(Source：Fortune)