Can some bright spark solve This soon? Yes, the fact that AI May Run Out Of power

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Every day, it seems — and is no doubt true — there is another news story about the insatiable need for electricity for AI server farms. And usually there are also long lists of solutions, which mostly these revolve around how big tech companies will provide electricity to themselves based on investments in alternative energy.

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The truth, though, that many of these will solve the impending crisis because the solutions will not be ready for years, and some of the solutions are untried.

And then there is the argument that AI will not need as much electricity as much as is forecast and that AI will solve its power problem based on its emerging ability to provide novel paths to address almost all troublesome issues humans face.

As The New York Times reports “Big tech companies say A.I. can help solve climate change, even as it’s driving up their emissions and raising doubts about their climate goals.” Maybe, but maybe not.

A problem as big as Japan
A recent analysis showed that in 2026, AI data centers will consume, worldwide, the same amount of energy that Japan does in a single year. Although it is a crude comparison, Japan’s population is 124 million. That is about 37% of the U.S. number.

And here’s the rub: AI cannot solve core infrastructure problems, at least not in the short term because anything that requires a physical change, such as building new power lines, requires years of work. Even AI cannot solve the problem of changing five million electricity distribution lines.

Overall, the land grab between traditional users of electricity and AI will worsen. The rates people and businesses pay is likely to go up and it will eventually become a political battle.

And it’s probably not far off.