Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates defended the substantial increase in energy consumption due to artificial intelligence systems, asserting that the technology would ultimately offset its high electricity usage.
What Happened: Gates, speaking at the Breakthrough Energy Summit in London, urged environmentalists and governments to not overreact to the significant power needed to operate new generative AI systems, as reported by The Financial Times on Friday.
The Microsoft co-founder highlighted Big Tech’s investments in AI systems, which are expected to drive a 2-6% increase in global electricity usage.
However, Gates believes that AI will accelerate a more than 6% reduction in emissions, especially with the tech industry’s willingness to pay a premium for clean energy. "The tech companies are the people willing to pay a premium and to help bootstrap green energy capacity," he said.
Despite the environmental impact of data centers, Gates, who left Microsoft’s board in 2020 but remains an adviser, emphasized that tech companies are driving the development and deployment of green energy. He also expressed concerns about the availability of enough green electricity to meet the growing demand.
"The amount of green electricity that we need for the transition is not going to show up nearly as fast as we need," he said.
However, as far as concerns about AI’s power-hungry nature are concerned, Gates said, “Let’s not go overboard.”
Why It Matters: The conversation around AI’s energy consumption isn’t new. Earlier this year, Arm Holdings Plc. CEO Rene Haas warned that AI data centers could consume up to 25% of U.S. power by 2030 without improvements in energy efficiency.
In April, Gates also discussed AI’s role in combating climate change by enabling scientists to genetically modify beef cows, as highlighted by University of Oxford data scientist Hannah Ritchie. This conversation underscored the transformative power of data in addressing environmental challenges.
More recently, Gates pledged to invest billions more into TerraPower‘s nuclear projects, emphasizing the need for advanced clean energy solutions to keep up with the growing electricity demand. Gates stated that without such investments, the country could fall behind in meeting its energy needs.
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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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