Artificial Intelligence Consumes Energy As Much As the Country Size of the Netherlands

By Aarti Dhapte , 16 November, 2023

Artificial intelligence integrates with industrial applications in every field of the economy, but it has its demerits, too. Artificial intelligence (AI) can consume as much energy as the country size of the Netherlands by 2027.

A study conducted in 2023 warns that AI can engulf as much energy as a country's size by 2027. With the growing trend of ChatGPT since 2022, tech firms have incorporated artificial intelligence-powered services. Integrating artificial intelligence in tech firms' services has drained more energy from online applications. The AI-powered services require more power than the conventional applications. One of the studies also states that if artificial intelligence's current growth is slowed, its environmental impact will be less in the coming years. Experts warn that if every search on Google uses artificial intelligence, it will use an equal amount of electricity consumed by a small country like the Netherlands. The growth rate of artificial intelligence is directly proportional to the production of AI chips for its easy availability. Companies like Nvidia are expected to supply around 95 percent of the artificial intelligence processing kits that the industry requires. Therefore, Nvidia, to meet the number of computers to be delivered by 2027, requires approximately 85-134 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually. This amount of electricity is consumed by a small country like the Netherlands yearly.

The growth of AI has led to more related applications in all these years. Based on a survey, Generative AI is used mainly by people with the growing trend of OpenAI's ChatGPT and others. These applications consume more energy to give output as they are made on models requiring machine learning. It consumes an enormous amount of data. The efficient use of artificial intelligence requires large amounts of energy. For instance, a tool like ChatGPT costs almost 564 megawatt-hours (MWh) to function. Therefore, experts are comparing the energy consumption by AI performed tools, applications, and others equivalent to the electricity consumed by small countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, Argentina, and others.