Research: 1 ChatGPT query consumes 10 times more electricity than a standard Google search

During the mining boom, it was estimated that some farms could use as much energy as a small city. In total, all video cards and accelerators for mining cryptocurrency in the world consumed as much electricity as an average European country. And similar indicators were achieved by accelerators for artificial intelligence.

Rene Haas, CEO of ARM, said that by 2030, artificial intelligence could consume 25% of US electricity. AI data centers currently consume 4%.

According to a January nofollow noopener”>report by the International Energy Agency, which states that ChatGPT consumes approximately 2.9 Wh of electricity per request, which is 10 times more than a standard Google search. Thus, if Google were to turn its search entirely to AI, the company would consume at least 11 TWh of electricity per year, instead of the current 1 TWh.

A single 700W NVIDIA H100 at 700W consumes approximately 3740 kWh per year. Dozens and hundreds of them are installed in data centers.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said the United States generated 4,240 TWh in 2022, with only 22% of that coming from renewable sources. Consumption was 3900 TWh. Given that the cost of electricity is almost doubled since 1990, more regulation seems warranted.