We did the math on AI's energy footprint. Here's the story you haven't heard.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

Let’s say you’re running a marathon as a charity runner and organizing a fundraiser to support your cause. You ask an AI model 15 questions about the best way to fundraise.

Then you make 10 attempts at an image for your flyer before you get one you are happy with, and three attempts at a five-second video to post on Instagram.

You’d use about 2.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough to ride over 100 miles on an e-bike (or around 10 miles in the average electric vehicle) or run the microwave for over three and a half hours.

(snip) (Paraphrase: Companies have no incentives to share exactly how much energy queries use.)

“We should stop trying to reverse-engineer numbers based on hearsay,” Luccioni says, “and put more pressure on these companies to actually share the real ones.” Luccioni has created the AI Energy Score, a way to rate models on their energy efficiency. But closed-source companies have to opt in. Few have, Luccioni says.

Further on, the article talks about how these data centers rely on dirty energy, like coal, and that the demand these queries pose means that companies are trying to fast-track centers in dirty grids.

This is a really comprehensive article that clearly outlines the energy threat AI poses. Is it worth it?