Worldwide energy consumption could increase if artificial intelligence were to be incorporated into everyday search engine use utilizing the current technology available, according to research published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Joule.The written commentary assesses how AI's energy footprint could change as developers create new tools. It was authored by Alex de Vries, who is identified in the journal as a Ph.D.
Moving forward, de Vries writes: 'The worst-case scenario suggests Google's AI alone could consume as much electricity as a country such as Ireland , which is a significant increase compared to its historical AI-related energy consumption.'Despite these concerns, de Vries is quick to add that the 'worst-case scenario' he outlines would depend on 'full-scale AI adoption' and the use of currently available technology.