All those back-of-the-napkin projections of AI’s energy footprint? We may be off by a wide margin. (MIT Technology Review)
While simple text queries simply sip power, generating just one five-second AI video consumes 3.4M joules—the equivalent of riding an e-bike for 38 miles or running a microwave for over an hour.
In 2024, US data centers burned through 200 TWh, rivaling the entire power consumption of Thailand. By 2028, researchers project AI alone could devour up to 326 TWh annually, enough to power 22% of all US households.
The bigger problem: Leading AI companies refuse to disclose per-query consumption, forcing grid planners to effectively assemble a jigsaw puzzle without the corner pieces.