How AI will double digital energy consumption globally in 10 years. AI will have huge impact on energy, environment, sustainability. Extract from Chapter 20 - new book: How AI will Change Your Life - by Patrick Dixon, keynote speaker on sustainable AI

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Future GreenTech, Sustainability Keynote Speaker

MANUFACTURERS ARE ALREADY using AI to help reduce the impact of production on the environment, but AI itself is creating a new hazard by using vast amounts of additional energy and water (for cooling).

The digital world is already responsible for around 4% of global carbon emissions, more than the entire aviation industry, with 4.6 billion people connected in some way to 30 billion devices. Even before AI, energy consumption by data centres was growing by 25% every year, despite the fact that servers are now 20% more efficient than five years ago.

AI is going to consume vastly more power. Gartner predicts that AI alone could burn up a further 3.5% of the world’s energy by 2030, almost doubling the environmental footprint of today’s digital world.

By 2026, AI servers will need as much power as the whole of Argentina, the Netherlands or Sweden – 130 terawatts per year or 0.5% of entire global energy consumption. Just cooling down these servers will be a major headache. It could be argued that much of that AI power is being used to make other processes more efficient, so we should include this in our overall calculations of AI energy use. However, this will be very hard to prove, particularly is a significant part of AI energy will be powering activities like ChatGPT – which may not produce any energy saving elsewhere.

ChatGPT alone burns up as much energy as 33,000 US households, a gigawatt hour per day. Every query is the equivalent of 100 emails.

Generating a single image on Stable Diffusion XL takes almost as much power as recharging your smartphone. Creating 1,000 such AI images will release more CO2 than driving 3.5 miles in a diesel car.

Daily Telegraph review (14 September 2024 UK): 

"If you need to acquire instant AI mastery in time for your next board meeting, Dixon’s your man. 

Dixon gives us plenty to think about: AI’s role in surveillance; AI’s role in intellectual freedom and copyright; AI’s role in warfare; AI’s role in human obsolescence – his exhaustive list runs to over two dozen chapters.

Business types will enjoy Dixon's meticulous lists and his willingness to argue both sides against the middle."

Read on - buy new book NOW. How AI Will Change Your Life

Looking for a world-class keynote speaker on Future Energy and AI? Call +44 7768511390

* Dr Patrick Dixon is one of the world's best known keynote speakers on global trends, often described as Europe’s leading Futurist. Author of 18 books, he has advised over 400 of the world’s largest corporations, often sharing platforms with their CEOs at their most important global events. His clients include Google, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, LinkedIn and many of the world’s largest manufacturers as well as governments. Patrick is a cancer physician by first training and his first start-up company some decades years ago was an AI-simulator, using computers to talk to and diagnose patients. His website globalchange.com has had 15 million unique visitors with 9 million video views.

How AI will change your life - Contents of Book

Chapter Headings:

Part One: How AI Is Evolving

1 The Truth About Artificial Intelligence 

2 Super-Smart AI and a Reality Check 

Part Two: How AI Will Shape Our Future World

3 Workplace AI

4 Office Workers - impact of AI

5 Healthcare - how AI will drive better health

6 Pharma, Disease Prevention and Wellness - how AI will transform pharma

7 Education – in School and at College - AI challenges to education

8 Adult Education and ‘Truth’ - why AI will redefine "Truth"

9 Software Development - AI will help but less than many think

10 Film-making and Music - get ready for AI revolution

11 Search Engines, Social Media, Publishing and Art - massive AI impact

12 Marketing - most campaigns will be driven entirely by AI

13 Retail - AI will have huge impact on retail eg fashion

14 Travel and Leisure - multiple impacts of AI on airlines, auto industry etc

15 Relationships - relationships with AI bots, and impact of AI on human to human relationships

16 Food Industry - AI will drive greater efficiency

17 Satellites and Space Colonies - impossible without AI

18 Manufacturing, Logistics and Supply Chains - major benefits from AI

19 Construction and Cities - AI will transform construction and the built environment

20 Environment - AI will consume huge amounts of power but also enable sustainability initiatives

21 Pensions and Wealth Management - AI already controls most investment decisions

22 Corporate and Retail Banking, and Insurance - AI poses major threats but will deliver cost savings

23 Cybersecurity - greatest risk from AI right now

24 Surveillance - AI is every dictator's dream tech

25 Military and War - get ready for AI driven wars

26 Government - AI will enhance government and threaten democracy 

Part Three: How Should We Respond?

27 Ten Steps for Governments 

28 Twelve Steps for Individuals 

29 Ten Steps for Companies 

30 Postscript – A Story 

Read on - buy new book NOW. How AI Will Change Your Life

Looking for a world-class keynote speaker on Future Energy and AI? Call +44 7768511390

Join the Debate! What are your own views?

* Your name
* Email address (will not appear or be used)

Send me emails of replies to my comment?

 

1