A request made using ChatGPT, for example, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google search, according to the International Energy Agency. In addition, data centers, which are essential for powering AI models, represented 4.4% of all the electricity consumed in the U.S. in 2023—and by 2028 they’re expected to consume approximately 6.7 to 12% of the country’s electricity. It’s likely only going to increase from there: The number of data centers worldwide have risen from 500,000 in 2012 to over 8 million as of September 2024.
The inherent challenge then, in the current landscape of AI models, is to be able to optimize both energy efficiency and accuracy.
It’s not just the types of questions asked or the degree of the answer’s accuracy, but the models themselves that can lead to the difference in emissions.