The Financial Times reported today that Bill Gates has launched a "defense" of current AI systems that lead to faster energy consumption, arguing that AI technology will eventually "offset" its power consumption.
Bill Gates, speaking in London.Appeal to environmentalists and governmentThe new generation of AI systems will require a huge amount of power to run, so don't "worry too much" about it, because it's not going to be enough.Microsoftand other major tech companies are competing to invest tens of billions of dollars in building theLarge new data centers.
He said that data centers will lead to an increase in global electricity consumption of 2-6%. And in May, Microsoft admitted that since 2020, its greenhouse gas emissionsIncreased by almost one thirdMuch of this is due to the construction of data centers. At the same time, however, the "green premium" that technology companies will pay for clean energy as they seek new sources of energy will help to driveClean energy development and deployment.
Gates said, "Tech companiesWillingness to pay a premiumand help jumpstart green energy capacity." Gates is reportedly participating in the Breakthrough Energy Group summit.
"The Breakthrough Energy group was founded by Gates and has received investments from Jeff Bezos, Masayoshi Son and Jack Ma. The group has invested in more than 100 developmentSustainable energy and other technologiescompanies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Large tech conglomerates such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google have drawn up plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on building the computing infrastructure needed to run AI systems in countries across the globe, but constraints on the availability of electricity have created new challenges for companies seeking to pursue these ambitions.
In May, the Electric Power Research Institute, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, stated that by 2030, data centers could consume as much as 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours.9% of U.S. electricity generation, which is more than double the current usage.