AI Will Use 99% Of All Electricity.

According to consultancy McKinsey, AI will be 11.7% of all power demand in the U.S. in 2030. Today, the number is 5.2%. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave a much more radical forecast and told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in April that the figure could be as high as 99%. 

Schmidt added, “What we need from you. We need energy in all forms, renewable, non-renewable, whatever. It needs to be there, and it needs to be there quickly.” Perhaps, he expects that, despite rapid growth in renewables, which include primarily wind and solar, it will not be enough. If nuclear energy comes online quickly, there will not be enough either. 

Schmidt’s forecast is basically based on AI running the world. His position was not that AI would take over the position of humans, but would be able to do almost all human tasks and think like people.. It is what scientists call “super intelligence.” There could also be an AI arms war between China and the U.S., which would mean electricity use would become part of the strategic decisions of every country in the world. 

Can AI Solve AI Problems?

Among the largest questions about AI is whether the companies that have started to create the software can invent “workarounds” for energy consumption. Google recently published a report that its Gemini product consumes more electricity than expected.  According to the MIT Technology Review, “The report also finds that the total energy used to field a Gemini query has fallen dramatically over time.”

The spread between Schmidt’s estimate and the new Google energy consumption data is wide. How the world has access to electricity will depend on which is closer to being correct.