It’s common knowledge that machine learning consumes a lot of energy. All those AI models powering email summaries, regicidal chatbots, and videos of Homer Simpson singing nu-metal are racking up a hefty server bill measured in megawatts per hour. But no one, it seems — not even the companies behind the tech — can say exactly what the cost is. Estimates do exist, but experts say those figures are partial and contingent, offering only a glimpse of AI’s total energy usage.
This doesn’t necessarily reflect real-world deployment, where software and hardware are often optimized for energy efficiency. “Definitely this is not representative of everyone’s use case, but now at least we have some numbers,” says Luccioni. “I wanted to put a flag in the ground, saying ‘Let’s start from here.’” '“The generative AI revolution comes with a planetary cost that is completely unknown to us.”' The study provides useful relative data, then, though not absolute figures.