Artificial intelligence (AI) is making things easier for us in a lot of ways. However, this comes at a cost, not only the cost of building AI infrastructure, but also running and maintaining it. However, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, believes that when compared to the energy consumed by a human, the consumption by AI data centres is not extreme.
But it seems that Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu does not agree with Altman’s perspective in this case. Here are the details.
What did Sam Altman say?
Altman addressed concerns over the environmental impact of AI. The OpenAI chief insisted that even humans take a lot of energy and resources to become smart. He told The Indian Express, “People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart.”
Sam Altman claimed that if we compare the energy consumed by an AI that was already trained to handle specific queries, the figure may actually be less than what a human would need. Altman explained, “If you ask ChatGPT a question, how much energy does it take once its model is trained to answer that question versus a human? And probably, AI has already caught up on an energy efficiency basis, measured that way.”
Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu responds
In response to Altman’s analogy, Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu offered a different perspective. The Zoho chief made it clear that technology shouldn’t be compared on the same level as human beings. He wrote on X, “I do not want to see a world where we equate a piece of technology to a human being.”
Vembu argued that we should not let technology dominate our lives. He said, “I work hard as a technologist to see a world where we don’t allow technology to dominate our lives, instead it should quietly recede into the background.”
Sridhar Vembu is not the only one with such a view. On X, one user pointed out that such a comparison may not be ethical. The person said, “They see no difference between humans and objects.”
Another user added, “This analogy dangerously reduces the human spirit to a mechanical balance sheet of calories and time.” One individual shared a screenshot from the film The Matrix and wrote, “swapping human sustenance to feed AI, where have we seen this before.”
Sam Altman says one ChatGPT query does not need 17 gallons of water
In the past few months, many people have claimed a single query on ChatGPT may use immense amounts of energy and water to run the AI data centres. However, according to Altman, this figure is now much less for an individual query. He said, “You see these things on the internet where, ‘Don’t use ChatGPT, it’s 17 gallons of water for each query’ or whatever,” Altman said. “This is completely untrue, totally insane, no connection to reality.”
Though, the OpenAI chief accepted that the world should make a switch towards renewable energy sources quickly as the overall energy consumption of AI data centres remains high.
