Skip to main content

Market Overview

Bill Gates Dismisses Concerns That Big Tech's Investment In Power-Hungry AI, Says It Will Ultimately Offset Higher Energy Use: 'Let's Not Go Overboard'

Share:
Bill Gates Dismisses Concerns That Big Tech's Investment In Power-Hungry AI, Says It Will Ultimately Offset Higher Energy Use: 'Let's Not Go Overboard'

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates defended the substantial increase in energy consumption due to artificial intelligence systems, asserting that the technology would ultimately offset its high electricity usage.

What Happened: Gates, speaking at the Breakthrough Energy Summit in London, urged environmentalists and governments to not overreact to the significant power needed to operate new generative AI systems, as reported by The Financial Times on Friday.

The Microsoft co-founder highlighted Big Tech’s investments in AI systems, which are expected to drive a 2-6% increase in global electricity usage.

However, Gates believes that AI will accelerate a more than 6% reduction in emissions, especially with the tech industry’s willingness to pay a premium for clean energy. "The tech companies are the people willing to pay a premium and to help bootstrap green energy capacity," he said.

See Also: Mark Zuckerberg’s PR Team Couldn’t Stop Him From Posting: ‘My Spine Has Been Surgically Removed,’ Said Former Facebook Exec

Despite the environmental impact of data centers, Gates, who left Microsoft’s board in 2020 but remains an adviser, emphasized that tech companies are driving the development and deployment of green energy. He also expressed concerns about the availability of enough green electricity to meet the growing demand.

"The amount of green electricity that we need for the transition is not going to show up nearly as fast as we need," he said.

However, as far as concerns about AI’s power-hungry nature are concerned, Gates said, “Let’s not go overboard.”

Why It Matters: The conversation around AI’s energy consumption isn’t new. Earlier this year, Arm Holdings Plc. CEO Rene Haas warned that AI data centers could consume up to 25% of U.S. power by 2030 without improvements in energy efficiency.

In April, Gates also discussed AI’s role in combating climate change by enabling scientists to genetically modify beef cows, as highlighted by University of Oxford data scientist Hannah Ritchie. This conversation underscored the transformative power of data in addressing environmental challenges.

More recently, Gates pledged to invest billions more into TerraPower‘s nuclear projects, emphasizing the need for advanced clean energy solutions to keep up with the growing electricity demand. Gates stated that without such investments, the country could fall behind in meeting its energy needs.

Read Next: ChatGPT-Parent OpenAI To Block Access To AI Tools Amid Growing Tech Tensions Between Washington And Beijing

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote

 

Related Articles

View Comments and Join the Discussion!

Posted-In: artificial intelligence Bill Gates data centers Kaustubh Bagalkote LondonNews Global Tech

Don't Miss Any Updates!
News Directly in Your Inbox
Subscribe to:
Benzinga Premarket Activity
Get pre-market outlook, mid-day update and after-market roundup emails in your inbox.
Market in 5 Minutes
Everything you need to know about the market - quick & easy.
Fintech Focus
A daily collection of all things fintech, interesting developments and market updates.
SPAC
Everything you need to know about the latest SPAC news.
Thank You

Thank you for subscribing! If you have any questions feel free to call us at 1-877-440-ZING or email us at vipaccounts@benzinga.com