Energy demand will explode with AI agents
At 0.34 watt-hours, the energy consumption of a single ChatGPT query is relatively low. An EPFL researcher agrees, as long as we’re talking about simple AI chats. However, the situation is likely to change drastically with AI agents.
A ChatGPT request is quickly formulated and sent. OpenAI, the company behind the AI all-rounder, operates its language models in large data centers - where they consume a lot of electricity. At least that's what the warning voices are saying, pointing out how much of a burden the AI boom is putting on the tech giants' carbon footprint.But what does it look like when you break down this consumption into individual interactions? In other words, how much power does a single request to ChatGPT require? OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently answered this question in a blog post: On average, Altman writes, processing a single AI prompt consumes 0.34 watt hours. This is roughly how much an oven consumes in one second or a highly efficient light bulb in a few minutes, the OpenAI CEO illustrates, adding: "It also consumes about 0.000085 gallons of water, or about one-fifteenth of a teaspoon."
Energy explosion still to come
EPFL researcher Marcel Salathé considers Altman's figure to be plausible, as he explains in a blog post. In his own analyses a few months ago, he arrived at an average power consumption of around 0.2 watt hours per request. The scientist notes that his calculation was based on pure text interactions with AI chatbots. Altman's higher figure, however, also includes prompts to generate images or videos.
The low values communicated by Salathé and Altman are "in stark contrast to many other estimates, which often assumed energy consumption to be at least an order of magnitude higher", writes the researcher.
Nevertheless, Salathé warns of the drastic increase in energy requirements in the future. He identifies AI agents, which are currently being presented and introduced by many companies, as the driving factor behind this. Salathé believes that "we may currently be underestimating our total energy requirements, and dramatically so". The researcher warns of "a coming explosion in our energy needs". Worrying about this is "entirely justifiable", says Salathé. In contrast, "the regular use of chatbots is really nothing to worry about in terms of energy consumption". (René Jaun/jor)
